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When I first went to look at Ernestine Camp’s quilts in the early 1980s, I didn’t expect the work to be of much interest to me. The improvisational African-American patchwork I’d been collecting and documenting was generally made by women who’d had littl e education and worked at jobs that required no formal training.

Ernestine, on the other hand, was a solidly middle-class schoolteacher with two master’s degrees. Indeed, Ernestine’s ranch-style residence turned out to be in one of East Oakland’s more af fluent neighborhoods. The quilts I was seeking almost always came from far less prosperous surroundings.

But Ernestine was friendly and eager to show me what she’d done, and I told myself that you could never be certain about what might turn up. After ou r initial greetings, she ushered me into her front room and went off to fetch the quilts. I looked around. The room was a study in beige. I might have been in suburbia. Ernestine returned with a neatly folded stack of pristine quilts, which turned out, as expected, to be precisely pieced from published patterns. Not the kind I was looking for. (“Piecing” a quilt refers to the sewing together of the many patches that make up the decorative front layer, known as the “quilt top.”)

I did what I always do whe n the quilts are outside my sphere of interest—tried to appreciate them for what they were. After I’d extolled the virtues of the first few, however, Ernestine spread out a crib-sized quilt top that totally engaged me. Appliquéd in an unfamiliar pattern a nd using pieces that had not been rigorously measured, each square pictured a boy bouncing a ball.

Every figure was slightly different from the next—positioned higher in its square perhaps, or wearing a smaller hat, looser shirt, or pointier shoes. All o f these variations contributed to a sense of movement. The quiltmaker had executed each repetition in a different fabric as well, ranging from prints and solids to plaids and stripes. These fabrics were from the 1930s—clearly before Ernestine’s time.

It turned out that Ernestine’s mother-in-law, Inena Camp, was the quiltmaker. Where? When? I wanted to know everything about it. It had been pieced in Chesnee, South Carolina—nobody knew exactly when—and given to Ernestine’s family after Inena’s death in 19 79. I started taking hurried notes. Ernestine couldn’t help noticing my fervor. She examined me with no small curiosity. What in the Lord’s name, she wanted to know, was it about this quilt top that had so caught my fancy?

Most of my friends and acquaintances, by then, had heard more than enough about my current obsession. So I was delighted to have an attentive audience. Although her own quilts were quite beautiful, I assured Ernestine, my particular interest was in spontaneously crafted work. I’d been noticing that some African-American quilts, like some African textiles, were improvisational. I’d furthermore been working on the theory that some characteristics of this type of quilt—so frowned upon in standard-traditional circles—were at least p artly A frican-derived, embodying survivals and transformations of African ideals.

Ernestine was all ears, her interest fueling the fire. Once I got going, I couldn’t rein myself in. I went on to explain that what were perceived as “mistakes” in the stan dard tra dition were often quite acceptable to, and sometimes prized by, craftspeople working in the improvisational mode. That, in fact, the consequent variation added all kinds of interest to the resulting one-of-a-kind design. That ....

But I was stopped in my tracks. To my astonishment, Ernestine started to cry. She sat down and silently wept, tears blanketing her face. I sat across the room and—glancing up from time to time to see if she wanted to talk—told myself to let the emotion run its course. Eventually, Ernestine told me what was going on.

She and her mother-in-law were both quilting enthusiasts. They had tried, in fact, to get a joint venture going. But they’d repeatedly “clashed”; Ernestine “wanted the quilt to be very well-put-together” and Inena didn’t think that was worth the bother. They’d finally had to give up working on the same quilts because Ernestine couldn’t stop prodding Inena to do it right.

“I didn’t like her working on quilts that I worked on,” she said. “I really liked to get my st itches even and straight and she didn’t think that was important.”

This started Ernestine crying again. Now, she explained through her tears, she could see that her mother-in-law had been doing it right for her all along. She shook her head, fi shed a tis sue out of her purse, patted her cheeks. But it was too late to do anything about it. Inena had died young—not that many years ago. She couldn’t go back and tell her sweet-hearted mother-in-law how sorry she was for giving her a hard time.

The little top wasn’t for sale at this point—maybe never had been—so we hung it over the front doorway, where there was no direct sunlight at that time of day, and chatted amicably while I took as many photographs as I could justify—widely bracketing, zeroing in on det ails, and so on. Then I made copies of Ernestine’s photos of Inena. I never knew if I’d have a second chance at documenting those quilts that I wasn’t able to buy.

After this eventful first meeting, Ernestine and I crossed paths from time to time. It see med like we’d bonded. I, at least, felt a special kinship to her and, some years later, she decided to entrust the little top to me. I was in heaven. As with much improvisational work, I never tire of looking at Boy Bouncing Ball.

I had it q uilted by Willia Ette Graham and Johnnie Wade—expert African-American quiltmakers whose stitches suited it perfectly. But not before Roberta Horton published a black-and-white picture of the unquilted top in Plaids and Stripes: the Use of Directional Fabr ic in Quilts, which Ernestine and her family got to have as a memento. Now they’ll have another. This time, however, it will be in color.

Eli Leon is a local quilt collector and scholar. See www.elileon.com.

One day, I found a clutch of posters at a y ard sale so rich that I tracked down the artist, Eli Leon. They were mostly from the Free University of Berkeley, which flourished in the late 1960s. Since I manage a vast political poster archive, I was tickled to come upon them, and then to find Leon wh o, to my disappointment, had quit doing posters. He was now collecting multitudes of African-American quilts.

But how neat it was, to meet someone else nutty enough to collect something seriously that mostly was passed over. And what a storage problem he had! For quilts were so much bulkier than posters. And those this fellow had gathered were loaded with history and such a wealth of graphic riches that my jaw dropped. Eli saw the same spirit of improvisation in this art form as in jazz, blues and gospel, derived presumably from African roots. And he has followed this recognition out concretely, in a long series of exhibits and writings, in an authoritative and generous career.

He’s now working on a memoir of his collecting years. Here is one of the chapters; its qualities speak for the man.

A contract dispute between the Peralta Community College District and a San Jose construction inspection firm over the Vista College construction project have left district and company officials squabbling over why the firm stopped work in July and whether Peralta will pay the firm $130,000.

It also has the company threatening legal action if it doesn’t get paid.

At the June 14 trustee meeting, trustees were asked to approve close to $300,000 in extra costs billed by HP Inspections of San Jose, hired to provided federally mandated inspections of steel used in the Vista construction project. The additional cost was equal to the amount of the original contract.

Peralta General Counsel Thuy Nguyen said at the time that the HP work was in violation of the firm’s contract with Peralta, which required prior approval for extra work. General Services Director Sadiq Ikharo said that the overtime work was necessary because Peralta had requested that the steel be delivered early.

Ikharo told trustees last June that the early delivery had cut two months off the projected completion date of the Vista project, translating into a savings of between $2 million and $4 million to the district.

That did not mollify Peralta Trustee Nicky González Yuen, the only trustee to vote against the quarter of a million dollar request last June. “I don’t want to send a message to contractors that they can go out of budget and we’ll cover it,” Yuen said.

But a little more than a month after that June trustee meeting, Swinerton Management & Consulting, the project managers for the Vista College construction project, recommended to Peralta officials that “it was prudent to discontinue the services of HP Inspections” and appoint another inspection company in their place.

In an Oct. 14 letter to Ikharo, Swinerton Senior Project Manager K.V.S. Raman wrote, “Swinterton … [is] of the opinion that HP Inspections has not demonstrated due diligence in achieving the anticipated economies in executing the required services to the project. Continued engagement of HP Inspections would have resulted in major cost overruns.”

In his report to trustees for the Nov. 15 trustee meeting, Ikharo wrote that trustees had approved the contract increase in June “with the understanding that HP Inspections would exercise due diligence in controlling the cost of the inspection work from that point to project completion… This did not occur, and, in fact, HP Inspections submitted invoices in excess of the approved additional services amount.”

The only part of that account that HP Inspections President David Pinkham agrees with is that HP Inspections was told by Peralta officials not to exceed the agreed upon contract amounts.

In a telephone interview, Pinkham blamed the problem on confusion within Peralta itself.

“It’s my understanding that one project manager was let go and another was hired in the middle of the project, and that created the lack of a paperwork trail for some of this work,” Pinkham said.

He added that the Vista project “was one of the biggest construction projects undertaken by the district in a number of years. It’s something that they were not quite set up to handle when the project started.”

He said it was HP who “ended our services in July” after his company and the district “couldn’t come to a contractural arrangement.”

Pinkham said he was in negotiations with Swinerton and Peralta officials over his company’s final, unpaid $130,000 bill.

At the trustee meeting this month, Ikharo seemed to indicate that the district has no intention of paying HP Inspections for the outstanding bill, saying that he would use the disputed amount to pay the new contractors who have been hired to complete the Vista steel inspection work.

Trustees approved the $80,000 contract with Consolidated Engineering Laboratories of San Ramon at the Nov. 15 trustee meeting.

The City Council has called a special work session starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the city’s existing homeless and anti-poverty programs.

Following a presentation by city staff, the council will discuss the programs and give the staff direction in creating a unified set of goals and policies for the programs.

Housing Director Steve Barton and Fred Medrano, director of the Health and Human Services Department, are among those who will make the presentation.

The council’s main meeting begins as usual at 7 p.m. Both sessions will be held in the council’s chambers at Old City Hall, 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

One item sure to prompt heated discussion is a presentation by Mayor Tom Bates followed by council discussion and directions to staff for changes in the city’s Landmarks Preservation Ordinance.

Councilmember Kriss Worthington is asking his colleagues to join in a resolution calling on the Planning Commission to plug a gap in the city’s inclusionary housing code.

While the inclusionary ordinance mandates that developers who build five apartments or live/work units must rent or sell one of them at reduced rates for low and lower-income tenants or provide an equivalent payment to the city’s housing trust fund, as the ordinance now reads, a developer can evade the rule by mixing the units.

Worthington calls it the “4+4=1” loophole” because a developer could build a project with four live/work and four residential-only units, yet have no obligation to rent or sell any at reduced rates or pay into the city housing fund.

The issue surfaced at a March 11 Planning Commission meeting where members reluctantly approved a project at 2209-2211 Fifth St. in West Berkeley featuring four apartments and two live/work units without an inclusionary unit or payment.

The council will also consider adoption of a near-relative (that is, nepotism) policy that would apply to all community agencies that do business with the city.

The measure would ban agencies from creating relationships where one near-relative holds a supervisory position above another near-relative.

Included in the category are parents, children, step-children, siblings and step-siblings, in-laws, aunts and uncles and nieces and nephew, and grandparents and grandchildren as well as spouses and domestic partners.

Any such relationships would have to be reported to the city, and none of the parties could directly supervise another, nor sign time cards for the other or participate in any hiring, promotion, demotion, disciplinary or salary decisions.

Councilmembers will also consider:

• A resolution opposing the execution of Stan “Tookie” Williams, the former Los Angeles gang leader who is scheduled to die in San Quentin’s death chamber on Dec. 13.

• A call by Councilmember Linda Maio to direct City Manager Phil Kamlarz to work with the Clif Bar company to find a way to keep the growing firm in the city.

• A final vote on the Ellis Act relocation fees approved on first reading on Nov. 15.

• Adoption of inclusionary housing administrative fees and the establishment on a new fund for the Inclusion Housing Program.

• Conflicting resolutions concerning the planned demolition of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Bevatron and Building 51 at the lab.

• A request by four councilmembers for a vote directing the city manager to ask the staff to explore the possibility of creating a city-wide wireless Internet system and report back to the council by March.

• Amending the city budget ordinance to re-authorize funds previously committed in fiscal year 2005.

Planning Commission

Planning commissioners will face a very light agenda when they meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave.

The single action item on the agenda is a hearing on zoning ordinance amendments that address permits, paving, landscaping and screening requirement for residential parking in required yards mandated by city ordinances.

Parking became an issue recently in the case of the so-called “Flying Cottage” at 3045 Shattuck Ave. and at the proposed three-story condo project planned for 2901 Otis Street.

Also scheduled for discussion are zoning amendments that would allow the elimination of so-called accessory dwelling units—typically converted garages—by the same process that allowed their creation and a discussion of proposed increases in fees charged for appealing land use decisions to the city council.

Housing Advisory Commission

The Housing Advisory Commission meets Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the South Berkeley Community Center, 2939 Ellis St.

The biggest item on their agenda is the possible approval of a $4 loan application to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to help fund the planned David Brower Center and Oxford Plaza affordable housing units.

The panel will also conduct a hearing on the city’s housing needs assessment for the coming year and another on the county-wide Homeless and Special Needs Housing Plan and hear reports on the city’s Joint Density Bonus Subcommittee and on amendments to the city’s condominium conversion ordinance.?

Embattled Peralta College District Trustee Marcie Hodge has escalated her attacks against the district’s Office of International Affairs, with her sister hiring San Francisco Freedom of Information Act attorney Karl Olson to renew a request for an investigative report on the department.

Hodge was censured by her fellow trustee board members earlier this year after a contentious Sept. 13 board meeting in which Hodge called for the abolition of the International Affairs Department.

In a letter sent late last week to Peralta General Counsel Thuy Nguyen on behalf of his client, Nicole Hodge, First Amendment and Freedom of Information Act attorney Karl Olson said that Nguyen refused to release to Nicole Hodge a report on the International Affairs Department authored by investigator Jim Drinkhall. Olson said that the Drinkhall report was denied to Nicole Hodge “on the grounds of attorney-client privilege and attorney work product. ... Mr. Drinkhall is not an attorney and therefore neither privilege applies.”

Olson gave the district 10 days to comply with his request and hinted at legal action if he did not receive the report.

In a follow-up telephone interview, Olson called the district’s reasons for denying Nicole Hodge’s request “bogus.” Asked if he would take the district to court if the report was not produced, Olson said “that’s certainly an option. Hopefully they’ll provide the report.”

Olson most recently represented the Contra Costa Times in a successful lawsuit forcing the City of Oakland to release salary information.

Nguyen could not be reached for comment in connection with this article.

According to Peralta Public Information Officer Jeff Heyman, Drinkhall was hired by the district in the summer of 2004 after charges surfaced that Jacob Ng, the International Affairs Office director, was doing outside work with a Hong Kong college while on the Peralta payroll. This was during a period before Hodge was elected to the Peralta Board of Trustees.

“Chancellor Elihu Harris thought the charges were important enough to investigate, and he hired Mr. Drinkhall on my recommendation,” Heyman said. Heyman, who was previously a private investigator himself, said that he had a former acquaintance with Drinkhall.

Heyman said that a report was issued by Drinkhall “last June or July.” While he declined to characterize the details of the report, saying that could only be released by General Counsel Nguyen, Heyman said that “the Chancellor felt that we had looked into the matter and we didn’t need to further act.”

Heyman said that “the closest thing you had to a smoking gun” in Drinkhall’s report was that a member of Ng’s staff had appeared in a promotional video for a Hong Kong college while being retained on the Peralta payroll. Heyman said that “disciplinary action was taken” shortly after the district received that information in the summer of 2004, but citing “personnel privacy concerns” declined to say what action was taken or who that action was taken against.

In a separate interview, Peralta Trustee Linda Handy confirmed that an employee was dismissed as a result of the promotional video incident. While Handy declined to name the dismissed employee, the confirmation would indicate that the employee in question in the promotional video was not Ng, since Ng continues to work for the district.

Handy said that trustees were “fully briefed” on the Drinkhall report by district staff in the summer of 2004. “We found that there was nothing there, so there was nothing more to be done.” She said that trustee concerns about the International Affairs Department “predated Marcie’s coming on the board last November. We want to make sure that the district is maximizing its revenue from international students.” But Handy said that many of the concerns raised by Hodge about the International Affairs Office dated back to an earlier period “when [Ron] Temple was Chancellor and before Elihu [Harris] was hired.” Handy said that after she was elected to the board and Temple was fired “we suspended international travel for trustees”—one of the major issues raised in connection with the office—“and we cleared up most of the problems that had previously been reported. What Marcie is talking about is old news.”

The city has begun the process of creating a new plan for Berkeley’s downtown. The current Berkeley Downtown Plan was adopted by the City Council in 1990. The work of putting that plan together began in 1984.

Proponents of doing a new plan for downtown have argued that a new plan is needed because the current plan is out-of-date. That raises an important question:

What has changed in the 20 years since the last Downtown Plan committee held its first community forum to get input for the current downtown plan? What new challenges do we face as a city?

Downtown has improved in a number of ways since the mid-1980s. An arts district has been developed successfully. Vacancy rates in downtown Berkeley are lower today; the retail sector is healthier. On the whole the downtown economy is in better shape.

Historic preservation was a key goal of the current downtown plan. Since the current plan was adopted, a number of historic buildings on Shattuck Avenue have been fixed up, which has certainly improved the visual quality of downtown. Historic preservation is, by definition, an ongoing process. The city will need to continue to preserve the historic structures that contribute to downtown’s character.

Housing

The Downtown Plan encouraged housing development and a substantial amount of housing has been built downtown in the last seven years. The city’s general plan encourages “transit-oriented” development and the new housing downtown within walking distance of BART and bus stops fits the bill.

But while new housing has been built, a relatively small percentage of it is affordable. One of the major changes that has taken place in Berkeley in the last 20 years is that rents and home prices have soared. Even when you adjust for inflation and rising incomes, the median and average market rent is much higher than it was in the mid-1980s. Rents for two-bedroom apartments are around $2,000 a month. Using federal affordability guidelines, it requires a household income of $80,000 to afford such an apartment.

People who grow up in Berkeley are finding it increasingly difficult to live in Berkeley when they move from their parents’ homes. People who work in Berkeley at jobs that pay less than $18 an hour or so will find it hard to find any housing at all that they can afford. The lower the income, the bigger the problem. As downtown is one of the best places to build new housing, the new downtown plan will need to put some emphasis, as the General Plan does, on providing affordable workforce housing for families and single workers, along with housing for seniors, the disabled and those who are currently homeless.

As more housing is built, it creates a need for services for new downtown residents. In planning for the future of retail downtown, the new downtown plan should consider how grocery stores and similar businesses that serve downtown residents and residents of nearby neighborhoods can be encouraged to locate downtown. Right now, the new Longs Drugs is the closest thing to a supermarket downtown. A number of food markets have closed since the current Downtown Plan was implemented and the remaining small markets on University and Shattuck avenues need to be supplemented to meet the needs of downtown residents.

In addition to housing, there is bound to be some commercial development as well. We should be concerned about the quality of new jobs that are created. Downtown employers should be encouraged to provide health benefits and pay decent wages to all employees including those in lower-level jobs. Hiring Berkeley residents, especially those who have been unemployed, should be encouraged. When the city supports a new development such as a new downtown hotel, it should ask the employer not to interfere with union efforts to organize their employees.

Transportation

Two transportation objectives of the current downtown plan are: 1) to “encourage the use of transit as the primary mode of travel,” and 2) to “decrease single-occupant vehicle trips to and from the downtown to create a viable and livable environment.” These goals are more important than ever because another big change in Berkeley during the last 20 years has been the increase in traffic.

The environmental impact report for Berkeley’s General Plan projects that growth will result in even more traffic and more congestion at various intersections, an impact that is “significant” and “unmitigatable.”

While city resources went into creating an arts district and reviving retail, relatively little has been done to implement the Downtown Plan’s transportation policies. Some good things have happened, including creation of a bike station at downtown BART and addition of new bus shelters.

But AC Transit service has recently been cut. The Berkeley TriP store closed and many good downtown pro-transit policies have never been implemented. The downtown plan called for discounted transit passes for downtown employees. The city has implemented an Eco Pass that allows city employees to ride AC Transit buses for free along with a $20 Commuter Check subsidy for BART riders. These measures have been successful in increasing transit ridership and reducing drive-alone commute trips. But no similar measures have been implemented for other downtown area employees.

Spreading Eco Pass or other forms of transit incentives could reduce both traffic, pollution and the demand for parking. Another vital step will be to work with AC Transit to implement Bus Rapid Transit, which promises to encourage greater use of transit with more frequent service and by reallocating traffic lanes currently used by cars to create dedicated lanes for buses so that they can stay on schedule and be more competitive with cars with respect to travel time.

The needs of pedestrians have not gotten much attention since the current plan was adopted. Accident statistics show that there are some intersections in and near downtown that need to be improved to enhance safety.

Pedestrian plaza

The current downtown plan calls for providing outdoor space for pedestrians. This continues to be an unmet need. The Hotel Task Force called for closing Center Street to motor vehicles (except for deliveries) to create a pedestrian plaza on a street that 10,000 pedestrians pass through each day.

The new downtown plan should embrace creation of a pedestrian plaza. Pedestrianized streets and even larger pedestrian zones have been very successful in many European cities and have helped attract people to downtown areas that might otherwise have declined as a result of population shifts to the suburbs. These pedestrian areas have been very good for local retail businesses. There are also successful examples in the United States including in Charlottesville, Virginia and Boulder Colorado, both of which host large universities.

The current downtown plan as calls for uncovering Strawberry Creek. The city should, as part of the new Downtown Plan, commit to following through with an analysis of feasibility, costs, potential funding sources, and design options. It’s possible to create a relatively peaceful oasis with natural features where people could gather away from the intense motor vehicle noise on Shattuck Avenue.

Think globally, act locally

Awareness of the Global Warming problem and of the negative consequences that can result from climate change has grown since the 1980s. There is also renewed concern about energy consumption and a recognition that sometime in the next 20 years (the useful life of a new downtown plan) we may reach a peak in oil production that could cause severe economic dislocation if steps haven’t been taken to switch to renewable energy.

Recognizing these problems, Berkeley has joined cities around the world in signing the Urban Environmental Accords, which were presented on United Nations World Environment Day, which took place in San Francisco this past June. The accords include 21 actions. Two of the more important actions are:

Action 1: Adopt and implement a policy to increase the use of renewable energy to meet ten percent of the city’s peak electric load within seven years.

Action 15: Implement a policy to reduce the percentage of commute trips by single occupancy vehicle by 10 percent in seven years.

The new Downtown Plan should contribute to carrying out the actions in the Urban Environmental Accords. The city should continue to oppose proposals that are clearly inconsistent with those accords, such as UC’s proposal to build 2060 new parking spaces, many of them in downtown, which, if implemented, will clearly lead to more trips by automobile, not fewer. Will UC be part of the global warming problem or part of the solution?

Green building

One way the city can act to reduce energy consumption and to increase use of renewable energy is by encouraging green building. In the 1980s, there was no U.S. Green Building Council and LEED standards for green building had not been developed. Now that some standards exist and others are under development, the city should think about requiring, as part of the new downtown plan, that new buildings achieve some level of green building certification.

Perhaps incentives can be created for buildings that achieve LEED platinum or LEED gold certification. Some recently constructed buildings have outmoded heating systems that do little to reduce demand for energy. And, it’s not clear that current zoning. We should require and encourage more from developers.

There are many good things in the current Downtown Plan, some of which simply need to be implemented after all these years. The current base height limits make sense, except perhaps for a downtown hotel. Additional height or reduced parking requirements can be considered as incentives for development that addresses real needs, such as providing affordable housing or meeting the highest green building standards.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of articles which will appear at irregular intervals documenting the progress of the Berkeley Downtown Area Plan task force. Task force participants are invited to submit similar pieces presenting their vision for the downtown area in this space, and everyone is invited to offer their evaluation of the group’s performance on the Daily Planet’s opinion pages.

An 8-year-old boy and his 7-year-old sister, paying a visit to their grandmother’s house at 1713 Dwight Way, managed to lay hold of a cigarette lighter.

Taking it into a bathroom, the young pair managed to set fire to a towel, which ignited the shower curtain, which started a bigger blaze. Officers had controlled it within 12 minutes of their arrival at 3:16 p.m.

Orth said the blaze caused about $20,000 in structural damage but only $500 in damage to contents.

The two youngsters were referred for mental health counseling and to his department’s own Juvenile Fire Center Program, which is designed to head off future problems.

A resident had unwisely placed a wax candle atop a glowing wood stove, leading to the inevitable. Fortunately, the blaze ended when the last of the wax had been consumed and before it could spread, said Orth.

Police arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion of rape on Nov. 22, minutes after a 21-year-old woman called to report that she had been sexually assaulted in the 1600 block of Russell Street, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies.

BART Police notified Berkeley officers of another sex crime that occurred about 7 p.m. in the 2700 block of Mabel Street.

The victim, an 18-year-old woman, told officers she had been kicked and subjected to an assault. She made her way to the Ashby BART station, where she reported the crime.

Armed robber

A gunman in his late teens robbed a 17-year-old man of his wallet in the 1700 block of Harmon Street shortly after 6 p.m. on the 22nd.

Good Samaritans

After a 17-year-old strong-arm robber tried to steal a woman’s purse in the 2000 block of Durant Avenue at 7:37 p.m. on the 22nd, bystanders chased him down, holding him until police arrived to arrest him.

Backpack heist

One of two men in their early 20s pulled a pistol on a 22-year-old woman as she walked along the 1400 block of Spruce Street, then robbed her of a backpack.

The pair, clad in dark garments, was last seen fleeing northbound on Spruce Street in an early 1990s minivan.

Animal cruelty

A caller summoned police to the 1600 block of Ashby Avenue about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday to investigate a case of animal cruelty.

Officers arrived to find a canine whose jaws had been taped shut. They took the dog into custody, and Officer Okies said investigators have a suspect in the incident.

Crutch-wielding vandal

A vandal armed with a brick and crutches took out the windows of three businesses in the 2900 block of Shattuck Avenue about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday.

One of the victims was Wheelchairs of Berkeley.

Robbery busts

Police arrested three suspects, including a 23-year-old man, in the armed robbery of a backpack worn by a man as he walked in the 1600 block of Scenic Avenue shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Officers made the arrests after they stopped a dark-colored Dodge minivan as it was departing the scene, said Officer Okies.

Andronico’s robbed

A beefy gunman in his late twenties robbed the Andronico’s Market at 1850 Solano Ave. at 9:50 p.m. Wednesday.

He ran out of the car carrying cash and was last seen bounding south through the parking lot. The suspect is described as an African American man who stands about 6’ tall and weighs about 200 pounds. He was wearing a dark gray beanie-style cap, a dark green knee-length jacket, dark pants and a red backpack.

Anyone with information is requested to contact Berkeley Police at police@ci.berkeley.ca.us or call the department at 981-5900.

Another gunman

A bicycling gunman robbed a 17-year-old man of his cell phone and cash in the 3400 block of Adeline Street just after 1 p.m. Friday, then pedaled off toward the Ashby BART parking lot.

Officers arrived moments later, in time to arrest the 39-year-old suspect with the loot.?

The liquor stores are drawing fire from both the South Berkeley gentrifiers and the West Oakland men in black suits. The stores must be doing something terrible. It is their trash, noise and petty crime say the gentrifiers. It is the alcohol they sell, say the men in black suits. Both complainers purport to want to improve the neighborhood. At least the men in black suits are concerned with the poor people who live there.

Viewed from afar, it could be said that liquor stores are only the well-lit symbols of poverty. The customers in the South Berkeley and West Oakland liquor stores are those who were left behind in New Orleans, i.e. the poor without cars. The gentrifiers don’t like people walking back and forth from the liquor store past their houses. But walking is what poor people do. Out in Pleasanton or Danville, the people who buy liquor get in their cars and get it at discount at a supermarket. Neither South Berkeley or West Oakland have supermarkets. Bread, milk and other staples are bought at the liquor store. The men in black suits decry the ubiquitousness in the neighborhood of these establishments that push the evil drinks of alcohol. But people who walk need to shop nearby. In their area an abundance of small establishments is essential. Such “mom and pop” places give credit “till the first of the month,” some let customers use the phone, cash checks, or change pesos into dollars. But “mom and pops” without the profit that comes from a liquor license are almost extinct.

Rather than pick on the liquor stores, there should be a movement to subsidize mom and pop, or, at the least, place a few supermarkets “in the hood.” Demands for a large grocery eventually bore fruit in San Francisco’s Hunter’s Point neighborhood.

Ted Vincent

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BERKELEY BOWL WEST

Editors, Daily Planet:

I am writing to let the readers of this paper know that all of the residents of southwest Berkeley do not see eye to eye in regards to the construction of a new Berkeley Bowl.

In my opinion, a new Berkeley Bowl would be a fabulous addition to this area of the city. This area has been underserved commercially for much too long and it is in dire need of an affordable supermarket.

Many people seems to think that a change in zoning to allow construction would open the flood gates to more commercial development. Where they see this as a problem, I see an opportunity to bring in much needed tax revenue to the city’s coffers, and to clean up an area of the city that suffers from urban blight. I ask anybody to take a walk in the area of the proposed site and tell me that it is “prospering” like John Curl said in his article. In reality, the area suffers from neglect, and contamination from years of industry and illegal dumping.

In short, it is time that the people of this city who oppose this project wake up and accept the changing dynamics of this area of the city. Manufacturing is going to continue to leave this area for places with cheaper operating costs which will lead to further blight. Where will southwest Berkeley be then? I think that opponents of this plan have vastly exaggerated the impact this store will have on traffic, artists and small businesses. The reality is that a new Berkeley Bowl would bring more business to this area and allow for artists and small business to make more money.

Unfortunately, many people in the bay area don’t get to come to this area of Berkeley to appreciate the diversity and unique charm we have to offer. All it is to them now, is a couple of blighted intersection. I believe that a new Berkeley Bowl and some more housing would only have a positive impact on this area.

Jonathan Stephens

•

MORE WINSTON, PLEASE

Editors, Daily Planet:

First thing I do when I get my Daily Planet is look to see if there is a Winston Burton essay. Would someone please give him a weekly column so I can stop being disappointed when his stories don’t appear?

David Freedman

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FREEBOX, UC, HENRY VIII

Editors, Daily Planet:

UC’s Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s hero must be King Henry VIII, who confiscated the Roman Catholic Church in England, which eliminated the poor boxes (free box) in the middle of the 16th century. Our Henry VIII, Chancellor Birgeneau, took the same measures last week by ordering the removal of the our newly built replacement steel Freebox in People’s Park.

Last week’s San Francisco Chronicle article revealed UC administrators earn $400,000 and live in 15,000-square-foot homes for free. Then we hear how King Robert (Chancellor Birgeneau) dealt with the poor masses in Toronto, by saying, “There is not a simple solution.” In other words he did nothing and will do nothing, while he is warm and cozy at our expense. What hypocrisy! King Robert the First has no clothes.

Michael Delacour,

Corinne Haskins.

•

MORE ME, PLEASE

Why don’t you publish more stories about me, or by me?

I find these stories much more interesting than the other junk you write about.

Richard List

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CARTER’S LEGACY

Editors, Daily Planet:

The author of a recent letter to the editor, David Altschul, might want to revise his derogatory statement that President Jimmy Carter was the least effective full-term president of the last 70 years. Without going into his record in detail, I’d like to suggest that Altschul remember that Carter’s carefully negotiated Oslo Accords have resulted in a long-lived peace (and even cooperation) between Israel and Egypt that should be used as an example that peace between Jews and Arabs is possible. Not a minor accomplishment.

Sally Williams

•

DERBY STREET

Editors, Daily Planet:

There is really no polite way to say this other than that BUSD Boardmember John Selawsky doesn’t know what he is talking about when he states that closed Derby will cost $4.5 million. Oh, sorry that was last month’s number; this month’s number is $6 million. Our group built the field portion of Harrison Park. Five years ago the City of Berkeley paid about $750,000 for two playing fields slightly larger than the Derby site (design, engineering, grading, irrigation, turf, fencing, sidewalks, landscaping, etc). The City of Albany paid $80,000 this year to install a new softball diamond (which due to its size and lack of grass infield is about $40,000 cheaper than a baseball field) at another athletic field, including batting cages, backstop, safety fences, etc. The combo is $830,000.

The professional cost estimators, hired by BUSD to develop estimates for Derby, came up with $1.3 million for the closed Derby fields and another $1.4 for non-field related costs (a place for the Farmers’ Market, new traffic light, and a storm sewer). As a reality check BUSD had these numbers reviewed by Bill Savidge who oversees building and field development for the West Contra Costa Unified School District. He agreed with the cost estimators. The number developed by the cost estimators seems in keeping with the $830,000 it has actually cost to build similar facilities.

It is one thing for general members of the community to write letters to the editor with gross factual inaccuracies. But the entire Berkeley community should be outraged when elected public officials make inflammatory and unsubstantiated statements for the sole purpose of creating community unrest about something they personally oppose. As a result of this and a multitude of other similar statements without any basis in fact, I have asked Mayor Tom Bates and Councilmember Max Anderson to hold a community dialogue among the people supporting closed/open Derby, neighbors of Derby, and the Ecology Center/Farmers’; Market. I offered up a date of Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Alternative High School. While the dialogue may not result in consensus it certainly is a necessary step to give people the accurate factual information they deserve.

Doug Fielding

Chairperson, Association of Sports Field Users

•

UC STEALS FREEBOX

Editors, Daily Planet:

The University of California administration destroyed our free clothing box in People’s Park, sneakily, in the dark. Like criminals, they stole a very important resource for sharing in our community. Ironically, as the UC Regents were voting on milking the students for money to pay their top administrators more, they were stealing from Berkeley’s poor. Why? Irene Hegarty, from UC’s Community Relations Department says, “People have taken the clothes and sold them to buy drugs or alcohol...It just has not been a productive way to get clothes to homeless people.” First off, in fact, the freebox is an active and effective distribution system, getting clothes to many people. It’s open 24 hours a day and it costs nothing. It certainly is a more “productive” way of getting clothes to the homeless than removing the box and throwing away the clothes as UC has been doing.

Secondly, the complaint about people selling the clothes is absurd. Who cares if someone sells something? It was given to them, it’s legal and there is plenty to go around. It is actually a great skill and service if one can identify clothes that are in fashion enough to be bought. That allows college students better prices at the used clothing stores and helps those local businesses. It reduces societal consumption. And why is it assumed that if a poor person makes money it is for “drugs or alcohol”?

The freebox is not necessary for us to exercise our right to share clothes. As has been happening since the box was vandalized, and since the park began, people still bring clothes to the park. And the clothes are still distributed and appreciated. But instead of the dignity of a box, they lie in bags, boxes or piles on the ground. The box keeps the clothes neater and protected from the rain.

The freebox is community helping itself. We are not asking for funding, for donations, not even for materials to build the box. It is a collective effort of people seeing a need and wanting to help others. It is hard to imagine what cruel streak in the non-democratic UC administration hierarchy chooses to destroy it. Please try to find them and call them. And keep bringing your extra clothes to People’s Park. They are needed and appreciated and it is our right to share with others.

On Wednesday morning I go to the store and buy onions, Brussels sprouts, butter, cranberries, and $195 worth of other edibles and non-edibles. I start cooking.

At noon Willie returns from the church where he’d gone to pick up his pre-ordered turkey. He is turkey-less. “Riots,” is all he says, and we leave it at that. I tell him I have bought two turkeys. We don’t need a third.

At 5 p.m. I pick up Bryce at school, then swing by Mrs. Ewing’s to get Clyiesha. I bring the kids home, and continue cooking. The kids disappear upstairs on a mission to destroy the attic.

I finish roasting one turkey at 9 p.m., de-stuff it, and get the other turkey prepped for tomorrow. At 10 p.m. we have a pre-Thanksgiving snack of cornbread and mashed potatoes. Then I go to bed. I need my rest.

Up early on Thursday morning, I roast the second turkey. Now it’s time to clean and set the table. The kids wake up and I serve them Frosted Flakes and send them out into the garden to look for worms. Cooking, cleaning, cleaning, cooking—it goes on for hours. Andrea prepares an enormous pot of collard greens and starts in on the gravy. She must time everything just right because she has to help Ralph out of bed at 4 p.m., and fix her hair.

At 3 p.m. I am done, but our guests won’t arrive until 5. I return to the store for beverages. Although I was planning on having an alcohol-free Thanksgiving, I have changed my mind. I need a drink. Maybe two.

I pick up Mrs. Ewing and granddaughter Poo, return home and make everyone a Shirley Temple. It’s almost time for our other guests to arrive.

At the appointed hour, Annie comes to the front door with Julian, Deja, Shauna, and little Juan. We put out hors d’oeuvres and mix up a pitcher of Shirley Temples. The kids run wild in the backyard looking for more worms.

Kameka, Terrance, and Tiashanae sprint in to pick up the sweet potato pie Mrs. Ewing has baked for them, (one of 15 she has made for relatives and friends). They stay long enough for a picture to be knocked off the wall, two fights to erupt over worm ownership, one child to be bitten (superficially) by Whiskers.

Dion shows up in front of the house and we tell him to go away.

Six p.m. and my brother, sister-in-law, niece and their friend James have still not arrived. We decide to eat without them.

Six-o-five they finally show. We can all eat together, which we do.

At 7 p.m. Martin carries in three gargantuan trays of a Pakistani version of Thanksgiving, leftovers from a homeless feed. Industrial-size serving dishes of rice, curried vegetables, and turkey meatballs cover the kitchen counters. We are too full to eat anything more so we package it up and save it for tomorrow.

Hans arrives empty-handed and hungry. There are plenty of leftovers for him on the dining room table.

Big Bobby picks up Hertha and Poo. He is wearing his bedroom slippers and says he can’t stay.

Annie and company leave just as Teddy and granddaughter Kiley arrive. They are looking for respite from all the activity at their house. I tell them they are welcome but that we are short on respite.

Willie comes in the backdoor as Andrea leaves through the front door. She hands over the responsibility of assisting Ralph into bed to Hans, and the dishes to me. Kanna Jo, John, Yuka, James, and Martin depart. Teddy and Kiley take off. Ralph and Willie go to bed; Clyiesha, Bryce and Hans remain.

I finish the dishes. At 2 a.m. Bryce wakes up with night terrors. At 4:10 Andrea drags herself home. At 5:36 a.m. Hans leaves for an N.A. meeting.

On Dec. 6, the Berkeley City Council will consider asking the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) to be significantly more transparent about the health and environmental issues associated with its new nanotechnology facility.

LBL will open its new Molecular Foundry “Nanostructures User Laboratory” in early 2006. This facility is being built to promote basic research into the “design, synthesis and characterization of nanoscale materials.” While nanotechnologies offer new promising opportunities for a host of applications from solar energy to more sophisticated cancer biopsies, there are as yet no standards or regulations—at the local, state, federal or international levels—that govern the safe handling of nanoparticles. Given the protests of some Berkeley citizens concerned about the potential environmental and health impacts of this new technology, and the utter lack of regulatory or industry standards, one might assume that the Lab would be particularly forthcoming about how they plan to stay in front of this issue. But sadly, you would be wrong.

Over a year ago, I asked some basic questions of the lab’s community relations officer and director of environment, health and safety. Essentially, I asked if they could publicly articulate the potential impacts their new nanoscale operations might impose on Berkeley’s community health and environment, the steps they would be taking to mitigate these impacts, and how the lab planned to keep abreast of the health and environmental issues associated with this emerging science. My primary motivation was to encourage the Lab to be more transparent with the community about these issues. For whatever reasons, the lab decided not to reply to my request. After receiving no reply, I asked the City of Berkeley’s Community Environmental Advisory Commission (CEAC), of which I am a member, to consider a draft motion calling for the City Council to ask a similar set of questions. This motion simply asks LBL to:

1. Publicly disclose how they are identifying the risks to community health and the environment associated with their new nanotechnology activities.

2. How they are using external experts (of their own choosing) to validate this process.

3. What measures they are taking to ensure these risks are being managed properly.

4. How they will keep updated on this evolving science.

5. How they will inform the public about all this.

CEAC passed the motion handily: the one commissioner who opposed the motion subsequently offered alternative questions that also ask the lab to be more transparent about how they plan to protect the community’s health and the environment. I view these questions as fundamental, basic, and fair. Apparently, the city manager’s office agrees, as it also supports this proposal. The Berkeley City Council will consider this motion on Dec. 6.

I would have hoped that the lab would have publicly disclosed this information on its own—without the need for prompting from me, CEAC, or the council. Why not? The lab’s apparent reluctance to deal forthrightly with this issue could be justified by two positions, and neither is a particularly comforting scenario. First, perhaps the lab is still figuring out what policies and procedures it will implement to safeguard community health and the environment. This is plausible given so little is actually known about these concerns and the utter lack of regulations and industry standards. But shouldn’t the Lab be forthright about this? The Lab could publicly acknowledge what it does and does not know, and only permit research to be conducted where they are quite sure about the potential impacts and the appropriate protective measures to take. If they are unsure about the risks, don’t the members of their surrounding community deserve the right to know this? After all, the Department of Energy’s national labs across the nation have a poor record of taking the necessary precautions to protect their surroundings. Thus, current public distrust of a national lab’s deployment of new technologies is understandable. What is less understandable is LBL’s current implied stance “Trust Me.” One would have hoped that lab managers would have learned that a lack of transparency about the measures employed to protect their surrounding environment only feeds distrust.

A second potential scenario that might explain the lab’s reluctant to be more transparent is disturbing for other reasons. Perhaps lab managers know all about the risks of their new nanoscale activities and have developed world-class measures to mitigate these risks, but are simply unwilling to publicly disclose them. One might expect a lack of transparency from private firms, but I think we deserve better from the government agencies we all pay for, whether it be national labs, state universities, or city agencies. I should add that it seems unlikely that the lab has all the answers about how to identify and mitigate the health and environmental aspects associated with nanotechnologies, given the fundamental questions US EPA is currently asking. LBL’s community relations and government affairs representatives have, to their credit, attended CEAC meetings. However, they have expressed a wide array of perspectives that ranged from (and I’m paraphrasing here): “The questions you’re asking cannot possibly be answered by anyone because the knowledge is not there yet on this cutting edge issue,” to “We have already answered these questions,” to “It is unreasonable to expect us to answer these questions.” As a former industrial manager of environment, health and safety, and an academic researcher studying corporate environmental management, I can say with some confidence that the questions that CEAC has proposed are not particularly unusual. Any industrial organization should be quite aware of their potential impacts on community health and the environment, and should be able to articulate the measures they are taking to mitigate those risks. Responsible companies should ask and answer these questions —without prompting from city commissions or city councils, before their activities commence.

I am not one who thinks LBL is at the center of any conspiracies. Nonetheless, I find their failure to respond to these basic questions about this emerging science—and their representatives’ referring to these questions as unanswerable and unreasonable—to be quite troubling. Berkeley deserves better. We’ll see if Berkeley City Council agrees when they consider the motion on Dec. 6.

Michael W. Toffel is chairman of the City of Berkeley’s Community Environmental Advisory Commission, and a post-doctoral researcher at the UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. This commentary reflects his personal opinions and not necessarily those of either organization.Ã

The performance features two satirical anti-World War I operas, a staging of Kurt Weill and Paul Green’s Johnny Johnson (1936), excerpts from Robert Kurka and Lewis Allen’s Good Soldier Schweik (1958), and an “antiwar cabaret” of songs by local jazz pianist and composer Mary Watkins. The show is Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Oakland Metro, 201 Broadway.

“Peace Through Song” will be conducted by Oakland Opera Theatre Musical Director Deirdre McClure, who has worked with the company since 2001.

The cast for the opera and cabaret singers include Will Meyer (tenor in the lead role of Johnny Johnson), Lara Bruckman, Martin Bell, Eliza O’Malley, Axel Van Chee, Jennifer Lien, Ayelet Cohen, Matt Lecar, Raeeka Shebai-Yaghmai and Vincent Fogle. The musicians are Shane Carrasco (cello, banjo and guitar), Chris Grady (trumpet), Skye Atman (keyboards and accordion) and John Hanes (percussion).

Johnny Johnson (the title character has the most common name among WW I American combatants) was premiered in New York by the Group Theater in 1936, and played in Boston and Los Angeles the following year in a Federal Workshop production.

Telling the story of a pacifist who nonetheless joins up for “the war to end all wars,” turns to antiwar activity after witnessing trench warfare, and is then confined to an insane asylum, Johnny Johnson is “a series of 15 scenes which vary in style and character from Gilbert and Sullivan to vaudeville, slapstick to rural sketch, abstract stylization to straight realism.”

Composer Kurt Weill is best known for his collaborations with Bertolt Brecht, such as in Threepenny Opera, Mahagonny and Happy End. Librettist Paul Green, 1927 Pulitzer Prizewinner for drama, is credited with developing the form of “Symphonic Drama,” a new kind of history play, usually site-specific, combining music, dance, pantomime and poetic dialogue, and, in the case of Green’s own pieces, socially committed theme and content.

“Johnny Johnson is popular music, full of popular images, by a classically trained composer who was a popular songwriter,” said McClure. “It’s rarely done; very tight, musically, and all over the map dramatically. After the songs of the Antiwar Cabaret, which are thematically more antiwar than peace, Johnny Johnson might seem to be a real departure in tone. It has the arc of a story, but doesn’t seem to have a compass in another sense, but maybe it reflects a time without a compass. Johnny’s girlfriend tells him she’ll leave him if he doesn’t go. There’s a soliloquy to the Statue of Liberty as he ships out and the statue’s song of regret at becoming a symbol of war. And what struck me while I was working with the score was how quickly Kurt Weill assimilated the English language. He had to flee Germany quickly, and with much regret.”

The Good Soldier Schweik, taken from a Czech novel about the wily, uncooperative title soldier, was a story also well known to Brecht and Weill. Lewis Allen, the librettist, wrote the lyrics to the music of Billie Holiday’s signature song, “Strange Fruit,” about a racial lynching.

Mary Watkins, whose number “Andersonville” in the Antiwar Cabaret is from her opera Queen Clara, about the Civil War as seen through the eyes of the pioneering nurse, Clara Barton, performs around the Bay Area as a jazz pianist.

Oakland Opera Theatre, which began producing one production every two years as Underworld Opera Company, now produces three shows a year, including such pieces as Philip Glass’ Akhaten and Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein’s Four Saints in Three Acts.

For more information on “Peace Through Song,” see www.oaklandopera.org or call (415) 465-8480.

Unconditional Theatre “Voices of Activism: Crawford” Members of Unconditional Theatre traveled to Crawford, Texas, to interview people on both sides of the Camp Casey anti-war protest. At 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Suggested donation $2-$20. www.juliamorgan.org

FILM

Busy Signals: Telephonic Art in Motion “Touchtone” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

READINGS AND LECTURES

Dave Lippman “Star of Goliath” Slides, song and sound from a visit to Palestine and Israel at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org

“Hanging New Paintings” with Eileen Van Soelen at 7 p.m. at Cafe Roma, 2960 College Ave.

FILM

The Battles of Sam Peckinpah “Junior Bonner” at 7 p.m. and “Straw Dogs” at 9:05 p.m. at Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

READINGS AND LECTURES

Ward Churchill on “Since Predator Came: Notes From the Struggle for American Indian Liberation” at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Cost is $5-$10 at the door. 208-1700. www.akpress.org

Delphine Hirasuna shows slides from “The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946” at 7:30 p.m. at Cody’s Books. 845-7852. www.codysbooks.com

MUSIC AND DANCE

Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble Benefit Concert for Hurricane Katrina victims at 7:30 p.m. at the Florence Schwimley Little Theater, 1929 Allston Way, on the Berkeley High School campus. Tickets are $10 at the door, free for BHS students, faculty and staff.

Eugene Burdick (1918-1967) was a professor of political science at the University of California and the author of The Ugly American and other best-selling novels. He was described to me years ago as “a cigar smoking extrovert.” At the time of his death, Clark Kerr spoke of him as “...one of the truly blithe spirits of the university—joyous, curious, friendly, creative, helpful.”

Born in Sheldon, Iowa, and raised in Los Angeles, he graduated from Stanford in 1941 with a degree in psychology. After service in the Navy he returned to Stanford for graduate studies in political science. He had learned, he wrote, that “the big problems couldn’t be solved by watching rats and that I’d better study humans.”

In 1948 he received a Rhodes Scholarship and earned a doctorate in political philosophy at Magdalene College, Oxford. When the Korean War broke out he was called back into military service; he spent his tour of duty “war-gaming and teaching political philosophy” at the Naval War College in Rhode Island. War-gaming, with its emphasis on hypothetical scenarios, appears to have had a profound effect on the fiction he wrote. In 1952 he began teaching at Berkeley.

Powerful universities

When Burdick attended Oxford, that ancient university was making a vigorous recovery from the effects of World War II. Dons like J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Maurice Bowra were in top form. Their students included youngsters from the public schools, veterans, Commonwealth scholars, and increasing numbers of young women. Many of Burdick’s classmates late distinguished themselves as artists, writers, scientists and politicians.

Some political philosophers might have found Oxford a great place to study politicians “in embryo.” But Burdick looked around and wrote an article for Isis, the student magazine, announcing that Oxford was in a serious state of decline, “even though still a powerful university, probably the most powerful in the world.” English students took umbrage, and a lively epistolary squabble ensued. It raised enough of a ruckus to be covered by American magazines and newspapers.

Twelve years later, in 1962, Burdick came back to the subject of “powerful” universities in an article for the New York Times Magazine, “Colossal U. by the Pacific.” It was a paean of unqualified praise for the University of California, which he described as “Midas-rich, dinosaur-big, ceaselessly engaged in a fantastic variety of tasks.” He asserted it had “solved the great problem of combining size with excellence,” while providing excellent instruction for its students.

The student protest movement burst into flame two years later. Although civil rights activists in the Free Speech Movement struck the initial spark, many observers believed the tinder that turned an incident into a conflagration was the university’s severe neglect of undergraduate teaching.

The Ugly American

Student protest soon focused on the war in Vietnam, a “big problem” about which Burdick had written in The Ugly American (1958). This famous novel—a collaboration with William Lederer, a retired naval officer—was a plea for American involvement in French Indochina, as Vietnam was known then. It was inspired, in part, by the ideas and actions of a charismatic soldier, Colonel Edward Lansdale. (Graham Greene portrayed Lansdale, the chief of the CIA’s Saigon military mission, as a bad guy in his 1954 novel, The Quiet American.)

The Ugly American takes place in the imaginary kingdom of Sarkhan and presents itself as a serious critique of the State Department. It portrays the diplomatic service as divided between hacks, and the heroes whose good works they undermine. It attributes America’s “defeats” in the cold war to diplomatic incompetence. Its thesis is that our losses can be reversed by making comprehensive reforms in the State Department and its personnel.

The need for specific reforms is illustrated by scenarios such as might have been concocted for role playing exercises at the Naval War College: an American soldier urges his French peers to borrow guerilla warfare methods from the Vietminh; a diplomat’s affair with a Chinese woman leaves him too tired to negotiate effectively; a plain-spoken American engineer (the heroic “Ugly American” of the title) works with his Sarkanese opposite number to devise an inexpensive irrigation method. Simple vignettes show the consequences of American rudeness and inability to speak local languages.

The book generates an atmosphere of intense foreboding, and its endless, superficially accurate details give it the appearance of authenticity. As its ambassador to Sarkhan writes to the secretary of state, “The United States must either prepare itself to win these many tiny conflicts, which are the substance of competitive coexistence; or go down to defeat... The little things we do must be done in the real interest of the peoples whose friendship we need—not just in the interest of propaganda.”

But crucial aspects of the real situation in Vietnam were completely absent from The Ugly American. It ignored President Eisenhower’s prudent decision not to intervene militarily. It misrepresented the extensive American involvement in the country’s affairs that already existed. It seemed naively unaware of what many other observers knew or suspected—that our government had already spent millions of dollars in secret funds to support the French war effort.

By the time The Ugly American appeared in 1958, its proposals for Peace Corps-style, citizen-to-citizen interaction were wholly inappropriate. When the novel was turned into a movie in 1962, events had so far outstripped the plot that the story had to be revised extensively as it was being filmed. The country was a war zone and our armed forces had begun replacing the French.

Still, Burdick’s ideas had such appeal to American good will and missionary zeal that they lingered in the air long after they stopped making sense, and were even incorporated into our war effort. A disillusioned Special Forces officer once told me of his experience in applying those ideas. In 1968 he was given responsibility for an outpost in the highlands, 300 miles northwest of Saigon, near the Cambodian border. The outpost and the adjacent village were home to about a thousand men, women and children, including three different tribes of mountain people, Cambodian exiles, and Vietnamese and American troops.

He was there to fight the Viet Cong. To succeed, he needed intelligence from the local people, but they were afraid of the American and South Vietnamese Special Forces. To win their confidence he began a “civil affairs program,” much in the fashion advocated by The Ugly American. Over a period of months his men won the villagers’ trust by helping them dig wells and rebuild their school, and by giving them medical care at the post hospital. He said it made him feel good to see people who had been afraid of his troops smiling when they met. And the program worked: villagers started supplying information about the Viet Cong.

All of this ended when an American howitzer shell fell short of its target during a fire fight, hitting the village and killing five people, including two children. Fear of the Special Forces returned instantly. Three days later, a soldier found a time bomb in the hospital, and he had to issue orders breaking off contact with the village.

He came to realize he had manipulated the villagers for the sake of his mission, using them in “a cruel game of deception.” He said, “My desire changed from wanting to cultivate a source of military information to helping human beings in need.” He gave them the materials for building their own dispensary, and carte blanche to do as they wished.

But V.C. attacks continued relentlessly, the village became a battlefield, and the villagers either died or moved away. “Eventually,” he said, “we realized that the reason for the attacks was that we were there—without us, the V.C. would not have been interested in the village.”

That was how Burdick’s scenarios played out in reality. “The little things” he and Lederer (and behind them, Lansdale) urged Americans to do in the people’s “real interest” were never genuinely disinterested. Whether you think in terms of the golden rule or the categorical imperative, this was deeply immoral.

Eugene Burdick considered his role as a political thinker to be more important than his role as a writer of fiction. In an essay for The Reporter he wrote, “The artist is responsible only for the fragment of reality he chooses to work on, but the political theorist is responsible for some sort of overview, and it is a dread responsibility.”

In The Ugly American, however, those roles coalesced: he used his talent as a novelist to create an “overview” of Vietnam which was propaganda for grossly mistaken “big ideas.” The “fragment of reality” he wrote about was of extraordinary importance to an entire generation of Americans. He misinformed them by contributing half-truths to their understanding of the world. He muddied the waters so completely that some of his readers still have trouble seeing the Vietnam war for what it was.

He was not alone in muddying the waters, and of course this still goes on. Policy makers today appeal to what Theodore White called our “blind good will” to justify sending our troops to fight in places where we should not be at war.

We don’t have a lot of eastern white pines (Pinus strobus) in Berkeley. There are lots of domestic cultivars—weeping, or tall and narrow, or bluer than the usual—and if I’m remembering correctly, it’s the species Mom and Dad used to get for the Christmas tree when I was a kid in Pennsylvania. That was partly a matter of tradition, I guess, but also because its soft needles weren’t hazardous when we were all hanging ornaments and tinsel.

But I don’t see it much in landscapes here, probably because it prefers well-drained, slightly acid, humusy soil and cool humidity. It dislikes city air pollution, too, but in its own range, it’s quite tough. Maybe we should leave it there.

I already get alternating jibblies and schadenfreude when I sit on the front steps opening the mail and listening to flies buzzing in despair as they’re digested alive by one of Joe’s pitcher plants, sundews, or Venus flytrap. I really don’t want to walk the streets thinking I might be attacked by some malicious tree from below as well as from above.

Turns out that this innocent Christmas tree of the northern forests is a carnivore. And it gets its prey underground.

Of course it isn’t that straightforward. What’s going on with white pines, as John N. Klironomos and Miranda M. Hart of Ontario’s University of Guelph found out and published in Nature in 2001, is a refinement of the mycorrhizal web, a mostly invisible and still-mysterious part of that big web of all life on Earth. Many, maybe most plants growing in their native habitats benefit from—and are part of, really—a soil network of living things, largely fungi, that connect with each other and with plants via the growing bits of the root systems.

Fungi aren’t plants, by the way. I’m fascinated to learn that they have cell walls, like plants (we animals have cell membranes) but that those walls are chitin, like shrimp shells—which I’d thought of as an animal thing. It’s like finding your doppelganger in the Antipodes—honestly, how can anyone be anything but thrilled by what Darwin and his successors have been discovering anew with every generation, the literal kinship of all life?

And with mycorrhizae, the literal connection of huge communities, we discover the functioning of whole forests as a single superorganism. That part’s not quite news: people have been selling and buying and surreptitiously moving mycorrhizae into their gardens and bonsai pots for years. People have also realized that disturbing or destroying this web is one of the things that trigger invasions by weeds, exotic plants like star thistle and pampas grass, plants out of place that push out natives and make sites effectively useless for the local animals and plants that depend on the original plant community. Plants not interwoven with the web can then “outcompete” the plants that were part of the original, now ruptured, living polity. The originals have effectively had part of themselves amputated.

What white pines are doing in their home forests, it turns out, is being part of a more active feeding process than anyone had thought. Nitrogen from de-caying animals—“animals” here includes bugs and even nearly microscopic stuff like springtails, centimenter-or-so-long arthropods that feed on decaying matter in leaf litter and soil—is a well-known plant nutrient.

The news is that pines and their “fungal partners” in the mycorrhizal web might not be waiting for something to die before digesting it. (Picture an impatient vulture.) Laccaria bicolor, a fungus that joins with white-pine rootlets in the forest, has been shown to actively infect and kill Folsomia candida springtails in the soil, and even seems to inject a paralyzing agent into them. It then “barters” the nitrogen of the springtails for carbohydrates from the pines’ root hairs, a well-known step in the soil nutrient exchange.

Many of us have a dream of being laid to rest under a tree when we die, contributing our remains to the life and substance of the tree and so living on in the world. It’s just a little unsettling to think that the peaceful plant community might not passively wait for us.

Return of the Over-the-Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness, and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. Meets at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area. For information and to register call 525-2233.

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to see the shorebirds here for the winter. Beginnners welcome, binoculars available for loan. 525-2233.

Women’s Snowshoe Workshop, covering all the essentials fro getting started in the sport at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140.

20th Anniversary of Star Alliance at 5:30 p.m. at Taste of the Himalayas, 1700 Shattuck Ave. With food, music, traditional Nepalese youth dancing, and a Sing-A-Long. Tickets are $20 at the door. 848-1818.

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. For information call 981-5300.

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833.

Family Story Time at 7 p.m. at the Kensington Branch Library, 61 Arlington Ave., Kensington. Free, all ages welcome. 524-3043.

Introduction to Buddhist Meditation at 7 p.m. at the Dzalandhara Buddhist Center in Berkeley. Cost is $7-$10. Call for directions. 559-8183. www.kadampas.org

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Judy Kuften, gerontologist, will speak on issues in aging. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830.

“Ask the Social Worker” free consultations for older adults and their families from 10 a.m. to noon at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. To schedule an appointment call 558-7800, ext. 716.

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840.

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720.

Prose Writer’s Workshop An ongoing group made up of friendly writers who are serious about our craft. All levels welcome. At 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil

THURSDAY, DEC. 1

An Evening of Solidarity with the Zapatistas with music by the La Peña Community Chorus, slides from EZLN’s Other Campaign and holiday gifts, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $7-$15. Benefits Zapatista Auton-

Ward Churchill on “Since Predator Came: Notes From the Struggle for American Indian Liberation” at 8 p.m. at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, 1924 Cedar St. Cost is $5-$10 at the door. 208-1700. www.akpress.org

City Commons Club Noon Luncheon with Burton Dragin on “The Social Connsequences of Legalized Gambling” Luncheon at 11:45 a.m. for $13.50, speech at 12:30 p.m., at the Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant St. 526-2925.

“Martin and Malcolm: Implication of Their Legacies for the Future,” with Dr. Cornel West and Imam Zaid Shakir at 8 p.m. at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, 10 Tenth St. Cost is $20. 238-7765.

“An Evening with Angela Y. Davis” at 8 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. at 25th. Tickets are $10-$12. Benefits KPFA. 848-6767, ext. 609. www.kpfa.org

Job and Resource Fair, with over 40 local companies and community-based service providers, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the North Oakland Senior Center, 5714 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. The fair is hosted by Oakland Adult Education, Oakland Unified School District. 879- 4020.

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org

SATURDAY, DEC. 3

“A Question of Conscience” Martin Sheen & Fr. Roy Bourgeois in conversation about their lives, work and the legacy of Fr. Bill O’Donnell at 7:30 p.m. at Newman Hall, 2700 Dwight Way. Benefit for the San Carlos Foundation. Tickets are $25 for the talk, $25 for the reception. 525-3787.

“Playing With Fire” Berkeley Potters Guild Holiday Sale from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 731 Jones St. at Fourth St. www.berkeleypotters.com

Albany Community Art Show from noon to 6 p.m. at the Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Ave.

American Indian Craft Fair and Pow-Wow on Sat. from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Gymnasium at Merritt College, 12500 Campus Drive, Oakland. Benefits the American Indian Child Resource Center. 208-1807, ext. 305. www.aicrc.org

Berkeley Artisans Holiday Open Studios Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For a map of locations see www.berkeleyartisans.com

BHS Communication Arts and Sciences Calendar Sale Wall, desk and enagement calendars on a variety of topics for only $5, from noon to 2 p.m., also on Sun. at 2310 Valley St., 3 blocks west of Sacramento St., off Channing Way. 843-2780.

Sunset Walk at Emeryville Marina meet at 3:30 p.m. at the west side of Chevy’s Restaurant. Rain cancels. Sponsored by Solo Sierrans. 234-8949.

Santa Paws at Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society Come have your pet(s)’ photo taken with Santa, or with a more generic Holiday theme for only $25, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at 2700 Ninth St. For an appointment call 845-7735 ext. 13.

A public-private partnership proposal put together by the Peralta Community College District and a Chicago sports and entertainment developer may be Oakland’s only chance to keep the city’s longstanding Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center from imminent closure.

An aide to Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris said that the partnership came from a discussion between Peralta and the International Facilities Group (IFG) while both organizations were attending a bidding meeting for proposals to save the Convention Center.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” said Harris Special Assistant Alton Jelks. “We believe it will be a tremendous showcase for the performing arts departments of the four Peralta colleges. And we’re very optimistic that something can be worked out with the city.”

Under the proposal, IFG would be responsible for managing the two-venue center, bringing in whatever local, national, and international acts it could generate to make money, with Peralta using the center for performances generated by students from Laney, Merritt, Vista, and College of Alameda. The colleges also hope to operate a public speakers’ series in the auditorium portion of the Center. The City of Oakland would retain ownership of the Convention Center.

IFG, which works on building sports and entertainment facilities nationwide, had roles in developing stadiums for the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago White Sox. In the Bay Area, the firm operates the Bob Hope Theater in Stockton and manages the new Stockton Event Center, slated to open in December 2005, according to the city administrator’s report.

Jelks said that there is a possibility that the Bill Graham Presents production organization, now owned by national giant Clear Channel, Inc., might also be brought into the operation in some manner.

Karen Boyd, an assistant to Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, said that the IFG/Peralta proposal was “our only real, viable proposal.”

She said that Edgerly had initially recommended against the proposal because it involved a larger subsidy from the city than city officials were prepared to make. But she said that after City Councilmembers expressed interest in the proposal, IFG representatives and city officials entered negotiations to try to reduce the proposed city allocation.

“They’re trying to see if they can get the city allocation down to $175,000 a year,” Boyd said, adding that members of City Council’s Finance and Management Committee had noted that this would only be slightly larger than the estimated $95,000 a year it would cost the city to mothball the facility.”

Boyd said that the City Administrator’s office would make a report on the negotiations to the full City Council at Council’s December 6 meeting, at which the Council is expected to make a decision on the IFG/Peralta proposal.

The Convention Center has operated for years as Oakland’s mid-level public events and entertainment facility, with an auditorium and adjoining Calvin Simmons Theater. The center is used for such activities as the city’s annual public school holiday extravaganza, circuses, school graduations, and performances by such city organizations as the Oakland Ballet.

But facing yearly operating losses of a half a million dollars, the cash-strapped Oakland City Council decided this year to close down the facility as of Dec. 31. In addition, the council authorized the city administrator’s office to issue RFP’s for organizations who wanted to take over management of the facility.

Both IFG and Peralta put in separate proposals.

“But during the time we were meeting with city officials, IFG suggested that we might work together on a joint proposal,” Jelks said. “It makes sense for Peralta to make this attempt to use the Kaiser as a performing arts center. A lot of community college districts have their own centers. We would like to have one of our own, but there’s not much chance that we could ever come up with the $30 million to $40 million that would be needed to build one from the ground. But here we’ve got one right next door to one of our facilities.”

Jelks said that the Peralta colleges would not be expected to provide money for the venture, but would contribute staff support, as well as provide acts and potential audience for many performance dates.

The Kaiser Convention Center proposal was developed out of Chancellor Harris’ office. Trustees have not yet publicly discussed the proposal. In addition, the proposal does not appear to have gone through Peralta’s shared governance procedure, which requires that it be vetted through the district’s administrative, faculty, and student groups.

This is not the first time that the Peralta Colleges have been mentioned as a possible partner in saving the Kaiser Convention Center.

Last summer, Gerry Garzon, Administrative Librarian with the Oakland Public Library, told Peralta trustees his agency is looking at the Kaiser Convention Center as a possible site for a new main library, and was interested in partnering with Laney College to use a portion of the space for the Laney College Library.

The proposal won praise from some of the trustees, but after representatives of the Laney College Library and the Laney College Faculty Senate threw cold water on the idea, saying that the mission of the college library was incompatible with the mission of the Oakland Public Library, the proposal was quietly dropped.

A plan that would have turned Berkeley’s Corporation Yard into a housing project collapsed Wednesday when the would-be developer pulled the plug.

City officials and Pulte Homes, one of the country’s leading housing developers, had been working quietly for almost a year on a project that would have relocated the Corporation Yard from the heart of a residential neighborhood to a vacant industrial site in West Berkeley.

The announcement came in an email sent to city officials and neighbors late Wednesday morning.

“The reason is fundamentally financial,” wrote Mike Kim of Pulte Homes, who works in the acquisitions and entitlements department of the firm’s regional office in Pleasanton.

That sentence was followed by this somewhat more cryptic offering: “In reevaluating Pulte’s financial and entitlement assumptions based on what we know, the deal is stressed. It is not in Pulte’s character to push through a stressed deal because in doing so the merits of the projects is [sic] compromised and the stakehold ers (Pulte, City Hall, Neighbors) involved may be asked to make concessions that they would otherwise be unwilling to make.”

The proposal by Pulte, a high-flying firm based in Bloomfield, Mich., would have relocated the yard to the site of the old McCaul ey Foundry, located at Seventh and Carleton streets in the industrial area of West Berkeley.

In presentation to Corporation Yard neighbors last week, Kim offered a tentative proposal that would have placed 70 bungalow-style single-family residences at th e Corporation Yard site, though he stressed that the concept was only preliminary.

Judith Sager, a neighbor of the yard, said she had hoped the project would finally end the long and often contentious relationship between the yard and the surrounding neighborhood.

“I am not surprised that they pulled out, but I am disappointed,” she said. “I’ve been here more than fifteen years, and some of us much longer, and we’ve seen a lot of scenarios floated, torpedoed, put on hold and put out of mind,” she said.

“It’s unfortunate that they pulled out,” said Mayor Tom Bates. “It was an opportunity to move the Corporation Yard from what is clearly an inappropriate site.”

Kamlarz and Bates both criticized Pulte officials for raising the hopes of neighbors before they had fully committed to the project.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Bates.

“I’m sorry they got everyone fired up,” said Kamlarz. “These guys walk away and we’re left to deal with the community.”

Major issues

At approximately 180,000 square feet, compared to the existing yard’s 200,000, the foundry site is about 10 percent smaller, and one issue that had yet to be resolved was whether the smaller site could have met all the city’s needs.

But the biggest issue was the cost of the foundry property, said Bates and City Manager Phil Kamlarz.

“As I understand it, the owners were asking $60 a square foot,” said Kamlarz.

“We have a public trust,” said Bates. “We have to sell at fair market value and we can only pay fair market value. They (the owners of the foundry) have a very steep price.”

The mayor said the value of the corporate yard site as residential land is far greater than the value of industrially zoned property.

Earlier in the week, Kamlarz told a reporter that other potential problems also con fronted the project.

The Berkeley Corporation Yard is an official city landmark, designated as such on July 1, 2002. The yard’s central building, built in 1916, was designed by architect Walter Ratcliff, who created many of the city’s other landmark buil dings.

Though not an official landmark, the McCauley Foundry has been carried on the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission’s list of “potential initiation” since April 3, 2000. No formal application has followed since.

Another issue is the potenti al presence of hazardous wastes remaining in the soils at both sites, which might have to be remedied before development could take place. The standards would be stricter for a residential project than for an industrial site.

Troubled neighbors

For decades, the 4.8-acre Corporation Yard has been the source of complaints from neighbors, who aren’t fond of the noise and traffic the facility produces in the heart of a residential neighborhood.

Not only does the facility house more than 170 city vehicles, ranging from trucks to street-sweepers and other heavy equipment, but it employs a large number of workers from the city’s Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Waterfront departments who work on a variety of projects.

The property occupies most of the center of the block bounded by Allston Way on the north, Bancroft Way on the south and Acton Street on the east and Bonar Street on the west.

To the east and south, the property borders streets lined with single family homes, while the southern edge of t he block is edged with a row of lawn bowling courts behind a single row of multifamily apartments which, in turn, face single family homes across Bonar.

Half of the Allston Way frontage is single family homes, the rest being multi-family housing and Stra wberry Creek Park.

It might be hard to find anyone in Berkeley who favors keeping an industrial facility in the heart of a neighborhood consisting mainly of single family homes.

“The neighborhood has evolved to wish (the yard and its activities) weren’t there to impact them, and the corporation yard people are wanting to move, but they have no place to go and no money,” Sager said.

Many city officials would like to see the yard moved, too, as evidenced during a Dec. 9, 2003 city council discussion abou t mandated seismic improvements to the facility, when several councilmembers said they’d like to move the yard to an industrial area—which the Pulte proposal would do.

“For years Margaret Breland worked with neighbors around the corporation yard about noise, parking and other issues,” said City Councilmember Darryl Moore, speaking of his predecessor as the district’s council representative.

Sager, for one is glad to have Moore on the council “because he lives just a couple of blocks away and he’s been very active on the issue, even before he ran for council.”

The proposal

Sager and fellow neighbor Anna Natille, who lives on West Street near the site (West dead-ends on the site to the north and south), were among the neighbors who met with Kim on Nov. 16, when he presented his pitch.

Both emerged with favorable impressions.

“He told us some ideas, but nothing is set in stone. He said he wanted to develop the project with the neighbors,” Natille said. “The main idea was to build 70 single-family bung alow-style dwellings.”

“He seems to have an idea that fits,” said Sager. “Bungalow-style single-family residences that fit with the neighborhood.

One thing neighbors say they don’t want is high density, something Moore also doesn’t want to see.

Interviewed before the deal collapsed, Moore cautiously allowed that he liked what he’d seen, though he stressed the project was very preliminary—a term repeated by Kamlarz and neighbors in earlier interviews.

The developer

In its May 14 issue, Business Week magazine ranked Pulte Home number 12 on its list of the country’s top 15 corporate performers.

The firm has taken a strong stake in the East Bay, with projects in Emeryville and Richmond.

The Richmond City Council overturned Oct. 30 a planning commissi on vote that would have denied Pulte the right to build 280 homes on land zoned for commercial use in the Marina Bay neighborhood

Photograph by Richard Brenneman

Heavy equipment in the Berkeley Corporation Yard stood idle Wednesday afternoon on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday—the same day a national developer killed a plan to transform the yard into a residential housing project.

While the attention of the media, the Oakland City Council, and the Oakland Mayor’s office’s continues to center around the proposed $65 million Forest City retail-housing development project in Oakland’s uptown area, a rich development prize awaits in the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center area a few miles to the southeast.

The reason? While projects like Forest City are dependent on subsidies from Oakland’s scarce redevelopment funds, there is a deep pool of public development money for the Kaiser Convention Center already in place and waiting to be tapped.

Part of that public money would come through the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, whose Lake Merritt Station is only a few blocks away from the Kaiser Center. In 1999, BART entered into a partnership with the Unity Council of Oakland’s Fruitvale District to break ground on the $100 million Fruitvale Transit District, a mixed-used development adjacent to the Fruitvale BART station. Funding for the development came, in part, from federal transportation money funneled through BART.

The selling point for the transit village plan for the federal government was that when shops and houses are concentrated around an area that is an existing transportation hub, such as a BART station, any new money allocated enhances the effect of the federal transportation money already given to the area.

With the success of the Fruitvale Transit Village, BART is seriously pursuing such transit village development projects in other parts of its system, including the MacArthur, West Oakland, and Lake Merritt BART stations.

But the bulk of the public development money available around the Kaiser Convention Center would come from Measure DD, the massive 2002 bond measure passed by Oakland voters in part to clean up Lake Merritt and its surrounding area. About $27 million of that Measure DD bond money is slated for restoration of the Lake Merritt Channel, a creek which connects Lake Merritt to the estuary, and which is adjacent to the Kaiser Convention Center.

At the time of Oakland’s founding as a city in the nineteenth century, Lake Merritt was a tidal slough which drained several creeks through a large marshland into the estuary and, eventually, the bay. A drawing of the city in 1882, taken from Oakland, The Story Of A City by Beth Bagwell, shows that at that time, the mouth of the channel at the estuary was actually wider than the lake itself.

In 1870, according to Bagwell’s book, Oakland Mayor Samuel Merritt persuaded the California legislature to designate the lake as a wildfowl refuge, which Bagwell calls “the first wildlife refuge declared by any legislative body in North America.”

Shortly afterwards, the city fought off plans by the Central Pacific Railroad to fill in the lake to build a train station. The city acquired the lake in 1891, designating it as public park space, and in the early years of the 20th century built the 14th Street/12th Street interchange at the foot of Lake Merritt proper that partially covered the Lake Merritt Channel.

The part of the creek which was still open was for the next hundred years in a a narrow strip of public parkland near the Convention Center, the Oakland Public Schools Administration Building, and the grounds presently occupied by Laney Community College, little known and little used by most of Oakland’s population.

That all changed with the passage of Measure DD. Part of the $27 million Lake Merritt Channel restoration money will go towards removing the 14th Street/12th Street interchange cover, daylighting the channel from the foot of Lake Merritt to the estuary. The City of Oakland is also seeking another $9.5 million in California Coastal Conservancy money to supplement the daylighting project.

When the project is completed, the Measure DD money is slated to restore the Lake Merritt Channel to its original configuration as the lower portion of a larger Lake Merritt, making it instantly one of Oakland’s most desirable and valuable waterfront properties. That property is surrounded by public parkland and public institutions.

A project description on the City of Oakland Measure DD website says that under what the city calls the 12th Street Project “12th Street will be redesigned into a tree-lined boulevard with signalized intersections and crosswalks and a landscaped median. The redesign would create significant new parkland at the south end of Lake Merritt Park, remove unsafe and unsightly pedestrian tunnels, provide safer and continuous access for pedestrians and bicyclists along the perimeter of Lake Merritt, and improved access between the Kaiser Convention Center and Laney College.”

Construction on the 12th Street Project of Measure DD is currently scheduled to begin in 2006, with completion in 2008.

Acknowledgment of the potential value of the Lake Merritt Channel area began to surface this year when state appointed Oakland Unified School District Administrator Randolph Ward put out a proposal for OUSD to move out of its administration building,suddenly potentially profitable, and lease it to private developers.

In the meantime, Oakland developer Alan Dones won approval from the outgoing Peralta Community College District Board of Trustees to put together a commercial development plan for the Peralta administrative lands and Laney College properties closest to the Lake Merritt Channel area. Dones later voluntarily withdrew his proposal from consideration after several months of contention and controversy.

A large number of community organizations have been regularly meeting since 2004 under the heading of the Measure DD Community Coalition to share and receive information about projects under the bond measure. Included in those organizations are Urban Ecology of Oakland, the Jack London Aquatic Center, the Oakland Heritage Alliance, the Oakland Museum of California Foundation, and the Oakland Parks Coalition. The Measure DD Community Coalition is advisory in nature only, and actual decision-making on the Measure DD expenditures is being made by the Oakland City Council, with implementation by an Executive Team put together by the City of Oakland.

After the new committee charged with charting a new plan for downtown Berkeley held its first meeting Monday night, many of the participants said that they wondered just how they could accomplish their tasks in the comparatively little time they have.

The tables accommodating Berkeley’s new 21-member Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee (DAPAC) and its supporting city staff circled nearly halfway around the commodious general purpose room of the North Berkeley Senior Center Monday night.

Most of the 21 appointees were on hand, and all had something to say—as did many in the audience. In the words of committee Chair Will Travis at the end of the three-and-a-half hour session, “We’ve covered about everything but dogs off leash.”

But the biggest player—UC Berkeley, itself the reason for the committee’s existence—was conspicuous for its silence.

Jennifer Lawrence, the university planner who represents the school’s interests in the process, is not a committee member. She spent the meeting mostly in silence, sitting with Berkeley city staff. She commented briefly during the introductions, including the statement, “I’m excited by all of the energy in the room.”

No university officials sits on the panel itself, though they have been invited to participate in the discussions on a non-voting basis, a fact that bothered panelist and former City Councilmember Mim Hawley.

“One of the first things we should do is have a dialogue with the university about their plans,” she said.

UC Berkeley is the reason for DAPAC’s existence. Creation of a new downtown plan—covering more land than the city’s existing plan for the city center—was mandated in the settlement agreement ending the city’s suit against the university after the school unveiled its Long Range Development Plan through 2020 which included more than a million square feet of development within the city proper, most of it downtown.

Travis drew nearly unanimous applause when, near the end of the meeting, he declared: “I view our role as not finding out what UC Berkeley wants to do but telling them where they can do it. Our challenge is to find a way to work with the university and the city.”

Matt Taecker, the principal planner hired by the city with university funding to shepherd the process, spent most of the meeting standing before large sheets of paper taped to the wall, marking down points raised by panelists for consideration in the planning process.

By the end of the meeting, his sheets had ticked off a laundry list of concerns, with check marks added to denote how many times the points had been raised.

The most frequent cited issues had already been raised before the panelists spoke, during the extended public comment period at the start of the meeting. These included:

• Preservation of historic buildings to preserve the unique character of the downtown.

• Maintaining the base allowable heights of buildings in the current downtown plan.

• Daylighting Strawberry Creek, at least along Center Street between Oxford Street and Shattuck Avenue and possibly all the way to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

• Transportation management to reduce car traffic and encourage downtown workers to use public transit.

• Measures to encourage the development of affordable housing.

• Incentives to bring more services for residents of downtown Berkeley, especially a grocery store.

• More green spaces and other amenities to encourage pedestrian traffic.

• Adoption of measures to enhance the existing Arts District.

• Adoption of new parking measures, though opinions were split on whether to encourage more or less parking.

• Provisions to encourage more economic vitality.

Panelists also addressed the bonuses included in city codes that allow developers to exceed the height limits specific in the existing Downtown Plan and zoning codes.

Rob Wrenn, who serves on both the Planning and Transportation commissions, called for the elimination of the cultural arts bonus, which allows developers to exceed building height limits if they create space in their buildings dedicated to housing cultural events.

In its place, Wrenn called for a “green” building bonus, which would grant extra space if developers designed environmentally sensitive structures that reduced energy consumption.

The green bonus won wide endorsement, in part because of the existence of national recognized standards—the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System—eliminated the ambiguities that have troubled the application of the cultural bonus in Berkeley.

“The arts bonus is badly broken,” said panelist and Planning Commissioner Gene Poschman. “The ways in which it has functioned are bad and worse.”

Though without naming the project—the so-called Seagate building planned for Center Street—Poschman observed that “one downtown development took a 12,000-square-foot arts space and turned into an additional 52,000 square feet of residential. It’s obvious that it has to be looked at again.”

Another panelist suggested implementing a program that would instead create living spaces downtown for lower income artists.

One significant action that resulted from Monday’s meeting was an agreement on when the group would hold its monthly meetings—the third Wednesdays of each month, the only date that didn’t pose conflicts with the other city commissions, on which many members serve.

Another issue resolved concerned the presence on DAPAC of five members of the nine-member Planning Commission, which triggers the requirement under the state’s Brown Act that the meeting be legally noticed as a meeting of the Planning Commission. The ruling was that the remaining four Planning Commissioners may also attend and participate in discussions, but they will not be allowed to vote.

Another issue apparently resolved was the pronunciation of the new group’s acronym, “daw-pack,” a coinage used by Taecker. q

Robert Norton Nichols, 52, passed away at his home in Berkeley after a brief illness. He was born May 14, 1953 in New Bedford, Mass., to Oliver (Nick) Winslow Nichols and Elizabeth Norton Nichols, now deceased. He attended Pennsylvania State College before moving west and becoming a union stagehand with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 107, working theatrical events Bay Area wide.

He was active in his union, helping others move into and through the union ranks, and equally active on other unions’ picket lines. He worked tirelessly for housing rights, even taking dying homeless people into his home, so they would at least have a place to die.

He acted as payee for people who couldn’t manage their checks, and handed out hundreds of dollars worth of wool blankets personally to people in need on the streets at Christmas. Nichols helped battered women obtain restraining orders, and was a birthing coach and surrogate parent to a friend who was a single mother.

When local papers failed to cover what Nichols considered to be the corruption of local politicians, he started the Hard Times, a forerunner of the current Pepper Spray Times, anonymously writing, publishing, and distributing the paper with friends.

Bob Nichols was an exceptional writer and musician, who played drums, bass, guitar, and sang in local rock and folk bands. He wrote poetry, songs, radio skits for Free Radio Berkeley, political satire, and unfailingly original letters and opinion pieces in the local press.

Nichols was a civil libertarian and People’s Park advocate, one of the original 36 arrestees who stopped the bulldozers when the university tried to designate the park as a volleyball court. He arranged a silent vigil with a group, holding candles on the sidewalk near People’s Park to contest the legality of the inevitable arrests, which the courts, inexplicably, upheld.

Nichols leaves a legacy of unparalleled compassion, incisive writing, and good humor. He is survived by three brothers: his twin brother Harry Nichols of Lancaster, Pa., and wife Jeane Nichols; Duncan Nichols of Lancaster, Pa.; and Thomas Nichols and wife Kim Nichols of Lancaster.

A public memorial service will be held Tuesday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m. at the Union Hall at 8130 Baldwin St., Suite 124, Oakland (main hall in the back).

Letters of condolence may be sent to his family care of Carol Denney, 1970 San Pablo Avenue #4, Berkeley, CA 94702, and donations in Bob’s remembrance may be made to Project Open Hand, 730 Polk St., San Francisco, CA 94109, (415) 447-2419.

Unlike the United States, where affirmative action has been debated for decades, the argument over it has only just begun in France.

It is currently illegal for institutions to collect data regarding a person’s ethnic origins. The law dates back to the end of World War II and was inspired by the persecution of the Jews, explains Dejane Ereau, deputy chief editor of Respect, a quarterly magazine dedicated to acceptance and diversity.

But in France, with its roots and pride in Gallic culture, a name betrays a person’s origins far quicker than any survey.

“It is against the law to ask one’s nationality or to count ethnicities in the census,” Ereau says. “So they have now begun to discuss using anonymous resumes with no name or age, to avoid discriminating against any applicant who doesn’t have a French name.”

The French government itself employs only one minister with a North African name, though it is estimated that North Africans make up nearly 10 percent of the population (no official statistics exist).

While the government has been behind on this issue wracking nearly every sector, French business has taken a leap ahead. A syndicate of advocacy groups developed a charter in 2004, “La Charte de la Diversité.”

There are currently 175 signatories to the charter, including some French business and industry giants, as well as SNCF, the powerful national French rail association.

The charter is not legally binding but is simply a call for awareness to avoid discriminatory hiring and promotion practices at the expense of ethnic minorities. It doesn’t call for quotas, either.

“Ethnic origins will never be the criteria for employment. Our action seeks to fight discrimination, not to add new forms of discrimination,” the charter states.

Despite these tentative steps, the sting of discrimination is felt in no uncertain terms in the ethnically diverse low-income suburbs of nearly all of France’s cities.

On a recent night in the southern city of Toulouse, one of the cities most damaged by the recent rioting, nearly a dozen police officers descend on a small group of young men whose skin color and street corner betray them as children of North African parentage. They’ve been asked by visiting reporters to come down from their apartments in a monolith that resembles so many of the tenements that house minorities. A community leader steps in to explain to the police that the youths are only talking with the journalists.

“You see, we have no right to gather on the street even to talk,” explains Riad Zeghab, an organizer in the low-income neighborhood where he resolves disputes between neighbors. There are more than five buildings each, housing more than 200 families.

He has spent his whole life in this community and says the recent bout of violence was not the first. He’s certain it will not be the last in the minorities’ fight for equal treatment in France.

Zeghab recalls an incident when police killed a young man and, trying to keep the peace, he stood between 50 police on one side and 50 angry youths on the other.

Munir, a 20-year-old of Algerian descent who would only give his first name, tells the reporters that it’s not just the joblessness that affects him and his friends, but “it’s the way that people look at you in the train. Look how I’m dressed,” he says, pointing at his wool jacket with buttons up the front. “Do I look like someone who is going to attack you?”

Munir attests to what has been shown by a well-publicized investigative research project: That youths like him have used false names to respond to hundreds of job announcements. “If my name is Jacques or Pierre, I can get a job, but if my name is Mohammed or Karim, it’s a lost cause,” he says.

Though the recent violence and vandalism in the low-income suburbs of nearly every major French city have triggered a national dialogue and lighted a spark of hope among minority citizens, a certain cynicism persists.

Even as President Jacques Chirac called for all of France to remember that the youths involved in the violence are “sons and daughters of the Republic,” he also made it clear that punishment will be meted out to those who have broken the laws of the nation.

While French business and industry have taken a step forward with the Diversity Charter, the French government took another step backward in Feb. 2005 by passing a law in the National Assembly that called for French public education to teach the “positive role” of France’s history in the colonies.

The new law further incensed minority communities that already feel disenfranchised and underrepresented. While the Diversity Charter is a step in the right direction, many feel that without popular education and social re-examination nothing will change the exclusive attitudes of the French mainstream.

“Even if we institute affirmative action, there will still be problems in schools,” says Hortense Nouvion, founder and publisher of Cité Black, a biweekly magazine covering news and culture from a black French perspective.

Nouvion, who is French-born and is raising her two sons in Paris, says that in France, “black equals foreigner. People ask me, ‘Where are you from? How did you learn to speak French?’”

“The solution is to teach kids who they are, why they’re here, that they didn’t drop from a parachute,” she says. “They have to be included in the history.”

Brahmani Houston works for New California Media, an association of over 700 print, broadcast and online ethnic media organizations and a PNS project.

Last I looked, the fields at Hearst weren’t even regulation fast pitch. Gilman Street is even further away than San Pablo Park. Having played softball at San Pablo Park for 20 years, I’ve witnessed the overuse of the fields and underutilization of the fields by the community. Please build the field at Derby and get it right this time. It will be worth it.

Alan Roselius

Hayward

DERBY STREET

Editors, Daily Planet:

I have to agree with Rio Bauce when he questions the hysteria surrounding closing one block of Derby for a much larger park with many more features. It does seem like a no-brainer to me too. Who would not want the best park possible?

Another member of the vocal minority opposing the park points out that Ohlone Park is “underutilized.” Perhaps we could replace it with a street. Any park in our community is always a benefit, even one that is not packed with people or events. Derby Street between Milvia and MLK is an example of “underutilized.” There is nothing on that street that could not be better accessed from a park setting. Driving a half block out of your way is not a big deal. We neighbors of the park do it every Tuesday during the Farmers’ Market and have been for years.

The Farmers’ Market management is against closing the street, mainly because of money to pay for the upgrades. Understandably, they don’t want to pay for a move they didn’t ask for, regardless of how much better it will be for the farmers trying to sell product. The School District has always made it clear that the Farmers’ Market is an important part of the new park. They should be in the new improved area at no additional costs. What difference does it make whether the city or the school district owns the land the Farmers’ Market is on?

I encourage everyone to take a look at Derby Street from Milvia or MLK. Try to imagine a park there instead of thousands of square feet of concrete. Please contact the mayor and the Berkeley City Council and urge them to close Derby Street between Milvia and MLK, Jr. Way. Let’s build the best park possible.

Bart Schult

•

DOWNTOWN

Editors, Daily Planet:

Over the past few months we have seen two historical and important street corners in downtown Berkeley revitalize with new tenants. The Kress Building on the corner of Shattuck and Addison now is occupied with Half Price Books, and the Corder Building on the corner of Shattuck and Bancroft now is occupied with Longs Pharmacy. Both of these historical sites have been vacant for over a decade. Now they are busy with new tenants and customers bringing new life to important areas of our downtown that have been vacant for much too long. As a ground floor retailer and a resident of the downtown I am very happy to add these new stores to my shopping possibilities. Half Price Books has a large selection of books, CDs, DVDs, and many more related items for sale. I have found the staff and supervisors to be friendly and very helpful. A lot of people thought that Half Price couldn’t survive in the downtown because of our ongoing parking issues. However, the loyal customers of Half Price and their new base of customers continue to patronize the store. I have witnessed customers bringing in box after box of books they want to sell to the store. Longs Pharmacy has finally opened after many months of anticipation. They have not only done a very nice job of improving the interior of their space, the exterior of the building looks wonderful and received a much-needed paint job. Though they are not the grocery store that our downtown needs, they do provide a small selection of dry goods and dairy products. I have also been impressed with the friendliness of their staff and supervisors.

Raudel Wilson

President

Downtown Berkeley

Association

•

PARKING

Editors, Daily Planet:

I live in Permit Parking area B which, along with areas A & D, include Saturdays as restricted parking days. This, I assume, is to include the CAL football games, of which there are only six or seven a year (depending if the Big Game is home). On Saturday, Nov. 12, as everyone in Berkeley was fully aware, whether they be a football fan or not, was the Cal vs. USC game. Now USC, being the No. 1 rank college football team in the nation, one would expect to fine a huge crowd in town, which we did. Apparently everyone was expecting this except the Berkeley Police Dept. as they had only 8 “meter maids” working (their usual Saturday work crew) as opposed to the 15 workers they have during the weekdays.

At noon I wandered from my house over to the ASUC and found no parking enforcers at all in area B. When I returned home, I called the Berkeley Police Department and was told my concern would be reported. Nothing happened. So at 4 p.m. I walked my square block (Stuart Street) and counted 28 cars parked with no permits and no tickets, seven with temporary permits, others with permanent permits and no empty parking spaces.

I have called again to both the BPD and to Councilmember Wozniak and voiced my concern. Why have the farce of the signage stating this is a two-hour area when it is not? Why do the residents need to purchase temporary permits for Saturdays when no one comes by to check? Why have Saturdays on the permits at all? Both took down my concern.

To my memory, no “meter maid” has come by during any of the six CAL home games this year. But they surely do come by during the weekdays, when Stuart Street is empty of cars, except for the occasional contractor’s car that does get ticketed because I forgot to give them one of my temporary permits!

The irony of this whole situation is obvious.

Barbara Scheifler

•

PARKING METERS

Editors, Daily Planet:

A Transportation Commissioner has suggested raising Berkeley’s parking-meter rates so they are in line with the rates in other cities of the Bay Area.

The city should look at the studies by UCLA Planning Professor Donald Shoup, which show that parking works best when parking-meter rates are higher than the rates for nearby off-street parking. Shoup says that rates should be high enough that about 15 percent of metered parking spaces are vacant at any time, making it easy to find metered parking.

If a city sets parking meter rates too low, then commuters will park and feed the meter all day, so there is no metered parking for short-term shoppers. In addition, longer-term shoppers will drive around and around the block looking for a meter rather than using the more expensive off-street parking, increasing congestion.

If you set meter rates higher than off-street parking rates, these problems disappear, and there is convenient metered parking for short-term shoppers who just want to stop and pick something up quickly.

Shoup found that merchants resisted plans to raise parking-meter rates, fearing that the higher cost would keep away shoppers, but that he could address merchants’ concerns by investing a significant part of the meter revenues in improving the streetscape of the shopping neighborhoods where the revenue was raised, to make these neighborhoods more attractive and draw more shoppers, rather than putting this revenue in the city’s general fund.

This strategy has been tried in Old Pasadena and in San Diego, and it has been very successful. The extra meter revenues have been used to make these shopping neighborhoods so attractive that they have drawn much more business, despite the higher cost of parking meters.

We should try the same thing in downtown Berkeley, in South Campus, and in other Berkeley shopping neighborhoods.

Charles Siegel

•

RAP SHEETS

Editors, Daily Planet:

I loved Susan Parker’s column about hiring the guy with the rap sheet. Mainly, I loved it because I work regularly with guys (and women, too) with rap sheets who aren’t so lucky. You wouldn’t believe how many jobs these days involve a background check—not just good jobs, but minimum wage nurses’ aide jobs, driving jobs, anything that involves kids or old people or requires a license—and the background check can turn up even ancient criminal cases. People with records, even those who have put their bad times behind them, usually find themselves unemployable. Few employers (and no bureaucracies) recognize the beauty you and your helper saw in turning around a life gone wrong.

For some of these people, help is available. It is often possible to get these old cases dismissed, once probation is completed. The rap sheet doesn’t disappear—the conviction still shows up on it—but it shows up with an order from the judge at the end of the case history, saying “dismissed.” This stamp of judicial approval can make a huge difference in getting a job or a license. It’s sort of an official gold star, saying “You did turn it around!” And getting that gold star can be as simple as filing a petition in court. To talk to a lawyer about a petition, come to the East Bay Community Law Center’s Criminal Records Clinic. It’s at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse Self Help Center, on Sixth and Washington in Oakland, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Kathleen Kahn

•

DOING THE JOB

Editors, Daily Planet:

I highly recommend that everyone follow the advice of Joanna Graham’s letter in the Nov. 11 Planet, in which she encourages readers to check out an exhibit entitled “Justice Matters: Artists Consider Palestine” on display through Dec. 7 at the Berkeley Art Center in Live Oak Park. Because as many people as possible should see these paintings which glorify mass murder (er, excuse me, suicide bombing), which repeat the anti-Semitic themes of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and which call for the destruction of Israel. (If you can’t make it to the show, Google the phrase “Gallery Exhibit at the Berkeley Art Center” for excellent photos of the art.) I applaud the Berkeley Art Center, MECA and Joanna Graham for drawing our attention to the vitriolic hate and veiled calls for violence amongst Palestinian supporters on the Left. Bravo! The more people that see the truth about the anti-Israel movement, the quicker it can be discredited. Thank you for your work in this matter, Joanna.

Paul Norland

•

BERKELEY HONDA

Editors, Daily Planet:

My wife, Jane, and I had an unpleasant experience at Berkeley Honda tonight that we thought might serve as a warning to anyone thinking about doing business with Berkeley Honda.

We have been quietly walking the picket line at Berkeley Honda for the past several months in solidarity with the long-time union workers who were not re-hired when the new owners took over. Jane has occasionally exchanged small talk with some of the current employees during our picket, but has never been confrontational—in fact, she had hoped that by remaining pleasant and human, this unfortunate situation would somehow be resolved more quickly and fairly.

Tonight, however, one of the Honda sales people, either through frustration at the lack of business or just plain ugliness, decided it was time to get tough. As Jane and I walked past the window with our signs, one of the salesmen, rapped on the window to get Jane’s attention. When she turned in response, he leered at her and then began gesticulating with his tongue in a manner that most people would consider both offensive and juvenile. That event led to a confrontation on the sidewalk in which the salesman told Jane to get her ass back to her communist homeland (England), and that I was both an asshole and an old man—said while he was standing much too close to me. His not-so-veiled threats (“you won’t see me if I come to your workplace” and “why don’t you and I meet someplace away from the dealership?”) now seem, in retrospect, much more menacing than I first thought.

The situation at the dealership appears to be deteriorating. Other picketers have reported similar taunts. Berkeley Honda should settle with the strikers before their employees frustrations boil over and someone gets hurt. In the meantime, I would urge Berkeleyans to stay away from Berkeley Honda, their new and used car sales departments (where the salesman works), their service department, and their parts department. There are good union dealerships in Oakland and El Cerrito where you can buy or service a car, as well as many reputable Honda mechanics throughout the city.

Tom Kelly

•

A FEW THOUGHTS

Editors, Daily Planet:

“General Webster is right,” Mr. Bush’s text said. “And so long as I am commander in chief, our strategy in Iraq will be driven by the sober judgment of our military commanders on the ground.”

Now let me paraphrase that in an imaginary quote from the head of our local cult of the personality: “The City Attorney is right,” Mayor Bates said. “And so long as I am the commanding personality in this city, our strategy in the LRDP lawsuit (or substitute any other legal matter) will be driven by the sober judgment of our professionally trained attorneys on the case.”

On another note, Councilmember Max Anderson was quoted as saying that the decision of the Landmarks Commission on 1901 Otis St. did not “pass the smell test” and that the commission should apply proper “standards.” No, I am afraid it is the City Council that does not pass the smell test. The Landmarks Commission was obviously making a statement on the lack of genuine standards applied by the Zoning Adjustments Board and by the City Council. We all know that these bodies have become bureaucratic institutions incapable of responding genuinely to any matter that is put before them. God bless the Landmarks Commission for trying to make a statement, and I hope all the citizens of Berkeley are not fooled for one minute by the spin doctors on the City Council or in the office of the city manager.

On yet another note, the acting Health Office for the City of Berkeley was apparently relieved of her position for making a statement supporting my appeal before the City Council concerning the proposed “renovation” at 2235 Derby St. The city manager tried to put a spin on it, as though she was supporting him rather than my appeal, but apparently even he didn’t believe that, because apparently he had her fired. Now, do you begin to understand what kind of government we now have in this fair city? Don’t be fooled by the past—look at the present—look at what is right before your eyes.

Peter J. Mutnick

•

PREJUDICE

Editors, Daily Planet:

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor in his “opinion” column of Nov. 18-21, said “the legislative redistricting process is like taking our car to the mechanic. We know we’re getting screwed. We’re just not sure exactly how.” As the leading alarmist in print locally, who looks (and seems to find) racism behind every conflict in the east bay, I expected better.

In three short sentences Mr. Allen-Taylor revealed his propensity to lump all practitioners of a difficult and demanding trade into one allegedly rotten barrel. Talk about preconceived notions (rank prejudice)!

This is the sort of blanket, uninformed prejudicial condemnation that Mr. Allen-Taylor rails against week in and week out in his opinion columns. Look in the mirror Mr. Allen-Taylor, and see if the shame you deserve can be seen on your face.

How does this statement sound to you sir: “One is about as likely to find truth and integrity in the local print media opinion pages as when looking for competency and honesty in a politician”?

Statistics from public and private agencies show that the incidence of fraud in the auto repair field is lower than in home remodeling, auto body repair, used car sales, Internet sales, lending, moving, real estate, and many other forms of commerce.

Evan Meyer

Former auto mechanic

•

REDISTRICTING

Editors, Daily Planet:

To J. Douglas Allen-Taylor: You would actually be funny, if only you weren’t so stupid. You actually think it was “conservatives and Republicans” who made the most noise wanting redistricting. Let’s set aside the fact that you are totally unaware that conservatives are Republicans. Let’s just go to the terrified faces of David Drier et all who made such a noise against redistricting, they completely obfuscated the governor’s trip to D.C. earlier this year. This was a trip where he was supposed to get a refund from the feds, not advance his consultants’ agenda (if you think Arnold personally give’s a shit about redistricting, you’re too stupid to live). And why the hell wouldn’t Perata and Nunez address re-districting now? Enough people—not to mention media geniuses like you—are pissed off about our districts that the Democrats—yes, even Perata and Nunez—realize judgment day is just around the corner on this issue. Just because it didn’t pass a couple weeks ago, doesn’t mean people don’t want it. They just didn’t want judges—or Arnold’s consultants—doing it.

It would nice if, for a change, you got off your “Let’s beat the shit out of anyone who advances farther in life” wailing wall and instead just reported the truth. You have such a hard-on for Perata you kick him on all the wrong things, watering down the items that he should rightfully answer for. Get your head out of the pro tem’s ass for a minute and write about what’s really wrong with our state. Although I doubt any of it will have to do with hot button realities like too many illegal immigrants bankrupting our schools and hospitals. That’s more important to me than freaking redistricting. Or how about taking on the teachers—yes, they do have too much power. Or the pensions of public employees. Do we really think it’s appropriate someone should get their salary for the rest of their life, even 20 years after they leave their job? Just because they were a cop or firefighter? God forbid we should accept the fact that most firefighters will never actually come close to a life and death situation, and frankly if they do, it’s the choice they made. I don’t feel like paying them and their widows 100 percent of their pay til death do we all part.

But I guess it’s sexier to go after Perata, and now Nunez. Who gives a shit about those two?! Except you!

Page McKane

•

NEIGHBORHOOD

TROUBLES

Editors, Daily Planet:

We live behind the house in Berkeley were there was an incident which drew the police to surround the block and cut off traffic. The incident was some kind of domestic dispute. Both the San Francisco Chronicle and the Berkeley Daily Planet ran similar short stories. As we heard disturbance and corroborated the story with other immediate neighbors, an AK-47 was used and a great number of shots (20-60 by various first hand reports) were fired. The news reports merely said: “A man came out with a gun and began firing at the officers” If it is true that an automatic weapon was used in a domestic dispute, some critical questions are raised. How was the weapon obtained? What kind of controls are there on selling or possessing this kind of weapon? What is being done to enforce pertinent regulations?

Some follow up work in your paper is called for. The citizens have a right to know if this kind of illegal weapon was used. Perhaps that awareness could lead to Berkeley, Alameda County, and the State of California following San Francisco's lead in prohibiting private gun ownership until the rest of the nation is ready to do so.

It would be easy to make fun of President Bush’s recent fiasco at the fourth Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina. His grand plan for a free trade zone reaching from the Arctic Circle to Terra del Fuego was soundly rejected by nations fed up with the economic and social chaos wrought by neo-liberalism. At a press conference, South American journalists were rude about Karl Rove. And the president ended the whole debacle by uttering what may be the most trenchant observation the man has ever made on Latin America: “Wow! Brazil is big!”

But there is nothing amusing about an enormous U.S. base less than 120 miles from the Bolivian border, or the explosive growth of U.S. financed mercenary armies that are doing everything from training the military in Paraguay and Ecuador to calling in air attacks against guerillas in Colombia. Indeed, it is feeling a little like the run up to the ‘60s and ‘70s, when Washington-sponsored military dictatorships and dark armies ruled the continent.

U.S. Special Forces began arriving this past summer at Paraguay’s Mariscasl Estigarriba air base, a sprawling complex built in 1982 during the reign of dictator Alfredo Stroessnerr. The airfield can handle B-52 bombers and Galaxy C-5 cargo planes, and house up to 16,000 troops. Some 500 U.S. special forces are conducting a three-month counterterrorism training exercise, code named Operation Commando Force 6.

Paraguayan denials that Mariscal Estigarriba is now a U.S. base have met with considerable skepticism by Brazil and Argentina. There is a disturbing similarity between U.S. denials about Mariscal Estigarriba and similar disclaimers made by the Pentagon about Eloy Alfaro airbase in Manta, Ecuador. The U.S. claimed Manta base was a “dirt strip” used for weather surveillance. When local journalists revealed its size, however, the U.S. admitted the base harbored thousands of mercenaries and hundreds of U.S. troops, and Washington had signed a 10-year basing agreement with Ecuador.

The Eloy Alfaro base is used to rotate U.S. troops in and out of Columbia, and to house an immense network of private corporations who do most of the military’s dirty work in Columbia. According to the Miami Herald, U.S. mercenaries have fought guerrillas in southern Columbia, and American civilians working for Air Scan International of Florida called in air strikes that killed 19 civilians and wounded 25 others in the town of Santo Domingo.

It was U.S. intelligence agents working out of Manta who fingered Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia leader Ricardo Palmera last year, and several leaders of the U.S. supported coup against Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide spent several months there before launching the 2004 coup that exiled Aristide to South Africa.

“Privatizing” war is not only the logical extension of the Bush administration’s mania for contracting everything out to the private sector; it also shields the White House’s activities from the U.S. Congress.

The role that Manta is playing in the northern part of the continent is what so worries countries in the southern cone about Mariscasl Estigarriba. “Once the United States arrives,” Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aldolfo Perez commented about the Paraguay base, “it takes a long time to leave.”

The Bush Administration has made the “Triple Frontier Region” where Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina meet into the South American equivalent of Iraq’s Sunni Triangle.

According to William Pope, U.S. State Department Counterterrorist Coordinator, the United States has evidence that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed spent several months in the area in 1995. The U.S. military also says it seized documents in Afghanistan with pictures of Paraguay and letters from Arabs living in Cuidad del Este, a city of some 150,000 people in the tri-border region.

The Defense Department has not revealed what the letters contained, but claims that the area is a hotbed of Middle East terrorism have been widely debunked. The U.S. State Department’s analysis of the region—“Patterns of Terrorism”—found no evidence for the charge

It is the base’s proximity to Bolivia that causes the most concern, particularly given the Bush Administration’s charges that Cuba and Venezuela are stirring up trouble in that Andean nation.

Bolivia has seen a series of political upheavals, starting with a revolt against the privatization of water supplies. The water revolt, which spread to IMF-enforced taxes, and the privatization of gas and oil reserves, forced three presidents to resign.

The country is increasingly polarized between its majority Indian population and an elite minority, which has dominated the nation for hundreds of years. Six out of 10 people live below the poverty line, a statistic that rises to nine in 10 in rural areas.

For the Bush administration, however, Bolivia is all about subversion, not poverty and powerlessness.

When U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Paraguay this past August, he told reporters that, “There certainly is evidence that both Cuba and Venezuela have been involved in the situation in Bolivia in unhelpful ways.”

A major focus of the unrest in Bolivia is who controls its vast natural gas deposits, the second largest in the Western Hemisphere. Under pressure from the U.S. and the IMF, Bolivia sold off its oil and gas to Enron and Shell in 1995 for $263.5 million, less than 1 percent of what the deposits are worth.

The Movement Toward Socialism’s presidential candidate Evo Morales, a Quechuan Indian who is running first in the polls, wants to re-nationalize the deposits. Polls indicate that 75 percent of Bolivians agree with him.

But the political crisis has the United States muttering dark threats about “failed states.”

U.S. General Bantz J. Craddock, commander of Southern Command, told the House Armed Services Committee: “In Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, distrust and loss of faith in failed institutions fuel the emergence of anti-U.S., anti-globalization, and anti-free trade demagogues.”

This is scary talk for Latin American countries.

Would the United States invade Bolivia? Given the present state of the U.S. military, unlikely.

Would the U.S. try to destabilize Bolivia’s economy while training people how to use military force to insure Enron, Shell, British Gas, Total, Repsol, and the United States continues to get Bolivian gas for pennies on the dollar? Quite likely.

And would the White House like to use such a coup as a way to send a message to other countries? You bet. President Bush may be clueless on geography, but he is not bad at overthrowing governments and killing people.

But if the U.S. tries something in Bolivia (or Venezuela), it will find that the old days when proxy armies and economic destabilization could bring down governments are gone, replaced by countries and people who no longer curtsy to the colossus from the north.

• • •

Grinch Award of the week goes to the U.S. State Department for denying a visa to Cuban vaccine expert, Vicente Verez-Bencomo. Verez-Bencomo was to receive an award from the San Jose Tech Museum of Innovation for inventing a low-cost vaccine for meningitis and pneumonia that, according to Science Magazine, “may someday save millions of lives.”

• • •

Orville Faubus Award for Cultural and Racial Sensitivity goes to Gerard Larcher, France’s Employment Minister. Larcher told the press that the riots were due to “overly large polygamous families” which led to “anti-social behavior among youths who lacked a father figure.”

Shortly after I returned from the war in Vietnam, I was invited to speak to a small church-sponsored audience about my experiences, as well as my opposition to the war. I had been a conscientious objector and had served as an Army medic in Vietnam. After my talk, a man who identified himself as a World War II veteran, approached me. He said that he had come to raise objections to my position, but had decided not to. Although he still did not agree with me, he said that he respected the consistency of my position. In response to his question, “What will happen if we leave South Vietnam?” I had answered that I fully expected the North Vietnamese to conquer the country. I added that I was opposed to the communist regime, and believed that the Vietnamese people would be better off with a democratically elected government. However, I did not believe that we could win the war we were fighting. Moreover, we were not creating a free and democratic society in South Vietnam, which would have been the only justification for the harm we were causing to millions of Vietnamese, as well as to tens of thousands of American soldiers. In my view, withdrawing American troops from Vietnam was a painful decision, but a simple one.

The current war in Iraq is often compared to the war in Vietnam. However it is not Vietnam—it is Yugoslavia. Saddam Hussein used force and terror to unify the many ethnic and religious factions that comprise Iraq, much as Tito did in Yugoslavia. Removing Saddam Hussein had much the same effect as the death of Tito. It created a political situation that caused the many religious, ethnic and geographic groups that make up Iraq to begin to compete for control.

As in the former Yugoslavia, the motivations are varied. The Shiite majority see the current situation as an opportunity to regain the power they lost under the previous regime. The Sunnis are struggling politically and militarily to protect themselves from anticipated oppression by the Shiite majority. The Kurds are struggling to overcome decades of oppression by the Arab majority. Many individuals, groups and communities see the absence of a strong central government as an opportunity to get even for past abuses. Finally, the chaotic political and security situation has attracted Muslim extremists from all over the world who are motivated by a desire to impose their particular brands of religion and politics on the people of Iraq. This is a complex problem.

The difficulty with a complex problem is that it is not amenable to a straightforward stay-or-leave solution. The history of the former Yugoslavia is an example of the terrible consequences of inter-community conflict arising from ancient and contemporary religious, ethnic and geographical rivalries. Sen. John Kerry’s “nuanced position” on the war in Iraq during last year’s presidential election, as well as the current unwillingness of most Democratic representatives and senators to support an immediate withdrawal, is a reflection of that complexity. By invading Iraq, we have created a problem with no simple solutions. If we stay in Iraq, the violence and instability are likely to continue at present levels well into the future. If we leave, the violence and instability will not end, and they are likely to increase.

The Republican majority is equally burdened by the complexity of the problem. In planning for the war, the administration chose not to answer critical questions outlined in the Powell Doctrine that explicitly address the issue of complexity: 1) Do we have a clear attainable objective? 2) Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed? 3) Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement? 4) Have the consequences of our action been fully considered? As a result, Republicans are faced with the political necessity of justifying our “endless entanglement,” even though a successful outcome would have been much easier to justify and much more beneficial to the interests of Republican representatives and senators.

The war in Iraq has resulted in, among other things, political polarization in American politics. We find ourselves taking up simplistic political positions and engaging in aggressive criticism of those with whom we disagree. Those who question continuing the present course, as well as those who insist on continuing it, are viewed as insincere political opportunists by their political opponents.

We are faced with the challenge of solving a complex problem that requires subtlety, critical thinking and dialogue. Neither a precipitous, unilateral withdrawal from the war, nor staying on our present course is likely to bring about a peaceful, free and happy Iraq within the next few years. It is possible that no course of action taken by the United States will lead to that outcome. However, we are there, and as a society, we are responsible for our actions. It is time to begin talking about this complex problem in a way that will increase our chances of getting it right, and will minimize the harm we cause for the people of Iraq and our own service men and women.

El Cerrito resident Ken Stanton works in Berkeley as a registered nurse.

Arnold screwed up. That’s the bottom line. He bungled the chance he was given this year to move California in the right direction. The most important issue on the special election ballot was the redistricting initiative.

California is stuck with a dysfunctional state government. The Legislature is a complete failure and is incapable of dealing with the massive problems that face California. This is so because of the cynical redistricting that took place after the 2000 census. Both parties are guilty of the sin of assassinating competitive democracy in California. Both parties wanted this deal—for the Democrats it was a chance to cement their numerical advantage in both the state Legislature and among the California congressional delegation. For the GOP, it was a chance to keep the seats they had and provide some kind of stability in the midst of a very blue state. The problems that this has caused are obvious. Election contests for the state Assembly and the state Senate are simply not competitive. Not a single seat in either body turned over at the last general election. What this means is that in a democratic district, for instance, the Democrats can’t lose. Therefore, who dominates the process of choosing and electing state Assembly members? The extreme groups of the democratic base, that’s who, the special interest groups, the identity politics groups, the public employee unions, etc. These groups are mainly interested in more funding for their members or narrow legislative action not in the common welfare. The same is true on the Republican side. The result of all this is to elect a Legislature that is made up of members that represent the most extreme elements of each party’s base. This is why the Legislature is so polarized. This is why there is no bipartisan cooperation in Sacramento. This is why the Legislature is far, far more liberal than the general voting public of California.

The governor needed to focus his “Year of Reform” on this problem like a laser beam. He could have put his energy into one important issue and shown voters that it was not a partisan issue but a campaign on behalf of all voters and all citizens for better government in California. Instead, he wasted time, his staff was lax in organizing his campaign and he allowed himself to sidetracked and distracted by the various other issues that he decided to add to the special election that didn’t need to be there. Yes, it is important to get a handle on the teachers union as a first step to improving the schools, but not now, not when getting this powerful interest group inflamed will distract the voters and dog his campaign for months. Yes, it is probably important to get a handle on the budget problem by giving the governor more power over spending, but it is a distraction from the basic problem of a Legislature that doesn’t work. Obviously, he couldn’t even convince Maria, who evidently had enough doubts about strategy that she refused to campaign with him even though she was needed desperately.

I can only conclude that Arnold does not have the necessary political skills to solve the very difficult problems facing California. He had a chance, but he bungled it. He may not get another chance and California just can’t wait. This presents a problem for conservatives and for all of California—should Arnold be reelected next year? The state Assembly is so dysfunctional and so far to the left of the general voting public that it is overwhelmingly important to have a Republican governor who can ride herd on the worst tendencies of the Assembly Democrats. Should a Democrat be elected governor—watch out—it will be a case of Gray Davis redux, and the monkeys will be running the zoo, again! On the other hand, we need someone who can lead a reform effort and if Arnold is not that person, who is? Maybe California will have to suffer through another crisis like blackouts or a Gray Davis-style collapse to get the reform rolling.

Alan Christie Swain holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University..

Let me count the ways your tax dollars are being utilized by the folks at Berkeley Honda. We’ll just take one day: Friday, Nov. 4.

1. Misuse of city services

At 8:06 a.m., a police officer comes slowly down Parker Street, appraising the canopy the strikers have erected against the drizzle. The canopy did not impede pedestrians, who were able to walk under it without difficulty. But Berkeley Honda called the police anyway—as they so often do.

“Listen,” I begin, but the officer waves me off. “Oh, that’s not a problem,” he says, nodding at the canopy, and a few minutes later he’s gone.

2. Misuse of court system—not to

mention misuse of the sheriff’s office—to perpetrate a frivolous action

Around 11 a.m., Gary and the union reps come back from court. Gary is one of the strikers, and he was in court to fight a temporary restraining order issued by the county sheriff at the request of Berkeley Honda’s service manager, Barry Strock. Why? That’s what the judge wanted to know. And the judge was not impressed with Barry’s answer, that Gary posed a threat to his family. How was that, the judge asked, considering that Gary didn’t know where Barry lived? And how come Barry hadn’t told the court that Gary was a party in a strike action, which completely changes the criteria for a restraining order?

Well, we’ll never know. But here’s what we do know: Barry had to pay for the union’s lawyer, as well as his own lawyer. And guess who Barry’s lawyer was? A woman from Berkeley Honda’s very own union-busting law firm, Littler Mendelson. Her presence confirms that in initiating the restraining order, Barry Strock was acting as an agent of Berkeley Honda rather than as an individual. But never mind that, that isn’t an abuse of city or county services; that’s only a violation of labor law. Just forget I mentioned it.

More misuse of city services

Alrighty, it’s around 1 p.m., and here comes another of Berkeley’s finest. He parks, walks up to the picket captain, glances at the canopy, and says, “Look, the truth is, your canopy is not breaking any laws that we know of. But we’ve received so many calls from Berkeley Honda about this, could you please take it down?”

All that happened on just one day. Here’s a look at what’s coming:

Future misuse of city agencies, services, and possibly the office of the

city attorney

Now, thanks to Berkeley Honda’s repeated calls to the police about our canopy, we’ll have to research laws about the use of temporary structures on city property, and in so doing we’ll need the help of various City of Berkeley departments. More money down the drain. And Honda will surely call the police many, many more times before this strike is done, for the same silly reasons they’ve called them in the past: We’ve harassed (i.e., talked to) one of their customers, or we’re blocking the street when we walk up to a car.

School Board Member Terry Doran stakes out the high ground in “We Want It for the Kids,” his Nov. 15 Daily Planet commentary, and we have to agree with his basic points. Berkeley kids need better sports facilities, and they need them now. They need good multi-purpose fields that will take the pressure off of existing fields such as San Pablo Park. Central Berkeley is short on open space and the Derby Street site is a unique opportunity to address this need. Decisions regarding the future of this site should be based first and foremost on meeting the recreational and athletic needs of the full range of the Berkeley Unified School District kids.

So far so good, but let’s be clear that the only purpose for closing Derby Street is to make the geometry work for a full sized hardball baseball field with 320-foot-long foul lines.

Closing Derby Street does not create more green space or increase the size of the multi-purpose field. To accommodate the continued operation of the Farmers’ Market, the closed-street plan requires construction of a new paved area equal to the existing street, resulting in a field area no larger than what would exist in an open-street plan.

Closing Derby Street does not provide good multi-use facilities. The baseball field requires a large dirt infield and wide foul areas. Due to the limited space and mismatched geometry, the proposed multi-purpose field—which would be used for soccer, lacrosse and field hockey for most of the year—overlaps the dirt infield, creating an unworkable situation for sports other than baseball.

And finally, closing Derby Street and building a regulation baseball field is a major public works project which cannot be done on the cheap. When all the soft costs and contingencies are included, the school district’s own estimates indicate the closed-street plan will cost approximately 2.5 million more than an open-street plan, and quite possibly more.

Certainly the students who play baseball could use better, more reliable facilities, and there are cost-effective alternatives for accommodating Berkeley High home games, notably the new single-use, night-lit baseball field planned as part of the Gilman Fields, a project spearheaded by Mayor Bates. The Open Derby Street Plan developed by the community and school district earlier this year provides an excellent multi-purpose field for soccer, lacrosse, filed hockey, and club sports as well as practice facilities for the baseball team while maintaining much of the green open space along Martin Luther King Jr. Way, all without closing Derby Street. This open-street, multi-use facility can be designed and constructed for something close to the actual BUSD funds available for the project, without any additional funding from the city.

Mr. Doran’s letter suggests that closing Derby Street is the best way to provide a “beautiful park” in central Berkeley. That should definitely be the goal. But the reality of the Closed Derby Street Plan will be a playing field hemmed in by tall fences and bordered by 36,000 square feet of concrete and asphalt running the length of the frontage on MLK Jr. Way—also surrounded by fencing to keep basketballs out of the street. On the other hand, the Open Derby Street Plan provides a multi-purpose field with lower fences, a single basketball court on MLK, and space left over for community amenities or passive open space. In our view, the Open Derby Street Plan yields a much more beautiful result.

Pursuit of a baseball field has stalled improvements of this site for a number of years. Berkeley students have grown to adulthood during the delay. As neighbors, as architects and as parents of Berkeley students we respectfully encourage the School Board members and the City Council to carefully examine the proposals for this site and consider which alternative makes the most effective use of limited resources, produces the greatest benefit for the most students, and is the better plan for the neighborhood in the context of the whole city. We believe that consideration points toward construction of an affordable, truly multi-purpose facility that leaves Derby Street open.

Just about everyone supports the troops. It has become taboo not to. They are, after all, not making the decisions, just following orders. So whether you agree with the war effort or are opposed to it, it has become unpatriotic, unsympathetic, and even seen as a disregard for life to not support them. They are just troops, just soldiers, sailors, and airmen carrying out their duties, but willing to sacrifice their lives. They come back emotionally and physically bruised and battered. Officially, more than 15,500 military personnel have been physically wounded in action. With Veterans’ Day sparking the country’s memory, discussions about the returning veterans, who will be forever changed regardless of their physical condition, are only now entering into the mainstream discourse. The 2,057 bodies that return, hidden by the blackness of night and the darkness of our own indifference are only remembered by their loved ones; the honor of their life and the dignity of their duty repressed and concealed by a fearful government.

The executive branch has taken hegemony to a whole new level, strategizing and succeeding at injecting its ideology into the legislature and the courts, but especially into the faithful. This executive team has a plan. They play religion like a prodigal pianist plays the piano; the notes of their instrument carefully selected to win the hearts and minds of the masses. Faith is a powerful instrument and is proving to be more powerful than the higher power in which the faith has been placed. Faith and religion guide actions and provide companionship in the search for a moral authority. For some, the exploration of morality is solitary; others seek companionship in the journey from other sources. The leaders of this country, our country, have twisted faith and religion; they have designated themselves as the moral authority, guided by God, and so many of us have accepted. Those of us who have not accepted the connection between our government and God have accepted our role as just a citizen. Government has not taken our authority; we have given it, along with our responsibility. Our job has become only to listen. The instrument they play either sounds good to our ears (it is after all God’s music) or is too complicated and we criticize the musician. We have disempowered ourselves and have lost confidence in our ability to act. If we do anything at all, we criticize, passively reacting, again leaving the proactive approaches to others. Government has taken the authority and accepts the criticism. It is a small price to pay for the power and authority handed to them.

We are sympathetic to the troops and support them because they are just troops, just as we are only citizens. How can we not support them; it was our lack of action, our sedentary state, that has sent someone else’s, and our own, children in harm’s way in order to build the businesses and fill the coffers of the men at the apex of our government all in the name of freedom and peace. We have become observers rather than players. Subject to the whims of the empowered government, we disempower ourselves and become victims.

The troops sacrifice their lives. What are we as citizens willing to sacrifice? Often without the luxury of doubt or the ability to postpone action, the troops march on, for us. We sit, and critique, and victimize ourselves. We are ashamed.

Oakland resident Jon Kidde is a concerned citizen interested in social justice through civic engagement. He is struggling to become more active as just a citizen.

I told my son David a few years back, when he was just starting out as a music video director and working with lesser-known rap groups I’d never heard of, to give me a call if he ever hooked up with someone I could relate to, like maybe one of the Big Three from my generation—The Beatles, The Stones, or Bobbie D.

Well, he called. (In between, he directed videos featuring younger talent--a group of one-name wonders that includes Creed, Usher, and that cutie Pink, not to mention a bunch of hot J’s: Janet Jackson, Ja Rule, and J. Lo.) When he dropped the name “Mick,” I, of course, dropped my real life and pushed the pedal to the metal on a pilgrimage to L.A. Though Mick would be sans Stones, wild horses couldn’t have kept me away.

On the “Visions of Paradise” video set, I snagged a position as an extra in the elevator scene. I thank the heavens it wasn’t the elephant scene. The gorgeous young starlet who sat atop that beast had to endure being sprayed with icky water recycled through its playful trunk. I attempted to banter with the other extras, but they were a grim lot. One guy dimmed my enthusiasm with, “My job is to suit up, show up, and shut up.” And that’s exactly what he did, even when I was in the elevator with him later and he heard the unseen director holler Chorus Line-style, “Hey Ma, look up at the monitor.”

Who among us is prepared for the moment when marvelous Mick walks up from behind and embraces you for a photo op? My tag-along “little” sister nervously squealed, “What do we do?” (It’s a good thing he didn’t approach from the front, or we might have fainted from sensory overload. Mick wore a dapper pin-stripe suit and heartthrob-red shirt accessorized with a tasteful version of “rapper’s ice” jewelry. At 60-something, he’s sure looking good.) All lips and teeth and blue eyes and charm, Mick replied in his melodic voice, “Just smile, ladies.” And in the snap of a shutter, we had an ultimate rock trophy.

Between takes, as I reclined into one of those tall canvas director’s chairs set up under a portable VIP tent, it blew my mind to see my baby boy rolling his monster of a camera and telling this rock ‘n roll legend what to do. My son chuckled with satisfaction as he looked into his monitor and saw that Mick had gesticulated at the camera and done his moves so well that the camera caught not only what he needed, but what he wanted.

It was also while sitting in this chair that my mind was blown yet again when I saw teeny boppers on the sidelines jumping up and down with delight as they caught sight of not Mick, but Dave. Even though he ain’t no Rolling Stone, my son was recognized by these kids from his many “Making of the Video” appearances on MTV.

On the second day of the three-day shoot, while we were sitting out in that warm L.A. sun at the trendy, trendy Brentwood Coffee Bean, sipping our caramel lattes before heading to the set downtown, my husband caught up with us on my daughter’s cell phone. “Daddy who?” I asked her as she handed me the phone.

Since this video shoot, Director Dave has been talking to one of the other two Big Three (the cute one). Pop divas Jennifer Lopez, Pink, and Gwen Stefani of No Doubt have all thanked him from the stage as they accepted their awards at the MTV Music Video Awards. Mick has been knighted, received a Golden Globe, and is on tour again with his mates. The world spins faster in Hollywood.

Unfortunately, the track bombed and “our” video didn’t get much play on MTV, VH1, or anywhere else. Though Mick was digitally enhanced in post-production by Hollywood’s best--to the point of smoothing his trademark cheek crags—and though he knows how to croon a fabulous love tune and spit out the world’s best rock ‘n roll, he’s been firmly placed into the “old rocker” category. And so, even though “Visions of Paradise” is a song you can listen to over and over and the video has a sense of humor and is fun to watch, few have heard or seen it. I must carry The Photograph in my purse so people will believe my tale. On one occasion, someone viewing it suggested Mick was a cardboard cutout. It seems to be just too much for a mind to take in that someone you know has hung with Mick.

But this regrettable bias against aging rock stars isn’t deterring me. A need still exists for “mature” extras. This journey got me daydreaming about quitting my day job, joining SAG, and getting into The Business full time. Perhaps I’ll have a little work done, or maybe I’ll beg my son for some of that fabulous digital enhancement, or maybe I’ll just let gravity do its thing and settle for character parts.

I guess I’m as ready for my close-up as I’ll ever be Mr. DeMille, I mean ... son.

Carole Terwilliger Meyers is the author of Weekend Adventures in San Francisco & Northern California (Mick has a copy) and the editor of Dream Sleeps: Castle & Palace Hotels of Europe (both published by Carousel Press: www.carousel-press.com). She lives in Berkeley.

Director Dave Meyers is a graduate of Berkeley High School. His people are talking with Mick’s people about doing another video. His current project is a collaboration with Steven Tyler and Santana.

Like an enormous pop-up book, the production design by famed illustrator and children’s book author Maurice Sendak takes three-dimensional form on the Berkeley Rep’s Roda Stage, bringing to life two mid-20th century Czech light operas adapted to English by playwright (and friend to Sendak) Tony Kushner, Comedy on the Bridge and Brundibar. Both are charming and witty, yet darkened by the ensuing tragedies of war and genocide that contribute their own ironic chiaroscuro and vanishing points.

Directed by the Rep’s artistic director, Tony Taccone, with the music conducted by Valerie Gebert (featuring members of the Berkeley Symphony), the two operettas are comedies of poor children banding together at the behest of friendly animals to defeat a bully, and of the perils and antics of an unlikely band of adults trapped between lines as a ceasefire ends and their exit visas are refused for entry or re-entry.

Comedy on the Bridge, based on a 19th-century play by Vaclav Kliment Klicpera with music by Bohuslav Martinu, is played first. Popelka (“Cinderella” in Czech, played and sung by Anjali Bhimani with tart charm) is the first to get stuck on the bridge between two sentries accoutered like toy soldiers, though brandishing automatic weapons with menace.

The others begin to stack up: first brewer Bedronyi (excellent Martin Vidnovic), then Popelka’s jealous boyfriend Sykos (Matt Farnsworth), followed by the brewer’s even more jealous wife Eva (Angelina Reaux, with brilliant voice and manner) and finally the schoolteacher, Professor Ucitelli (William Youmans, who displays some comic body language), who’s trying to get the answer to a riddle from Capt. Ladinsky (Henry DiGiovanni), who finally arrives in the gondola of a dirigible atop a column of clouds on a pedestal of churning waves with fish, and delivers the answer, with an irony that would give closure to Oedipus’ sphinx.

The cast sings and performs delightfully on Sendak’s bridge—at one point underpinned by enormous-eyed, big-footed fish, frustrated as they wait to eat a would-be jumper; at another, falling into jagged pieces with the shelling following the end of the truce. Martinu’s music is piquant and well supports the ridiculous action in the midst of cataclysm.

Brundibar is Czech for “bumblebee”—maybe from the humming of a hurdy-gurdy, for it’s the title character’s name, a leering, surly organ-grinder (played very effectively by Euan Morton) who professedly hates children, especially Pepicek (Aaron Simon Gross) and his little sister Aninku (Devynn Pedell), who come to beg on his turf for money to bring home milk and food for their ailing mother.

A bird, a cat and a dog, well-portrayed by the women of the first piece, and Geoff Hoyle, one of the sentries at the bridge, as the dog, help summon a crowd of children, who shame Brundibar and drive him away.

It’s a triumph, but Sendak, who has said that children’s courage comes from “enormous innocence to really not know how evil the world can be,” suggests “turn the page.” Brundibar adds his P.S. to the children’s song: “Our friends will make us strong. Bullies don’t give up completely. One departs. The next appears. And we shall meet again, my dears.”

Composer Hans Krasa, confined to the concentration camp at Terezin, performed Brundibar 55 times with casts of children held there, before he was transferred to Auschwitz, where he was killed in 1944. Among the many ironies is the exploitation of the shows by the Nazis to demonstrate to the world how well treated were the denizens of the “model ghetto.”

Adolf Hoffmeister’s libretto is full of both sophisticated irony and folk wisdom. Tony Kushner’s adaptation develops its own comic vocabulary, though sometimes comes up a little flat in rendering the subtler shades behind the innocence of a not-so-false naivete.

The unfolding of the story is marvelously depicted by Sendak’s unfolding town and background landscape, with a backdrop at one point of children riding blackbirds, which Sendak says are “both pro the kids and against the kids. Just like fate ... And also a blackbird is from my passion for Schubert songs and his blackbirds and his birds of doom or birds of good.”

Those who’ve been charmed, or who can be charmed, by Sendak’s books won’t be disappointed by the show at the Rep. It portrays both the humor and pathos in the little things of everyday, translated into fantasy and dream. It is told in a form which, like children’s books, is considered minor, light, but, as Sendak says of his own career, “I was gonna hide somewhere where nobody would find me and express myself entirely. I’m like a guerrilla warfarer in my best books.”

This by the same author/illustrator who also said, “You’re really fighting yourself all the way along the line. And I don’t know ... I never set out to write books for children.”

The Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents Comedy on the Bridge and Brundibar through Dec. 28. $15-$64. Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St. 647-2949 or see www.berkleleyrep.org.

Berkeley Rep advises parents not to bring children age 7 or younger. |

Three special buildings—including two historic houses and a really fine art museum—provide appealing destinations for a day or weekend trip to Sacramento this winter, especially when rainy or cold weather argues in favor of indoor activities.

First up is the newly opened Stanford Mansion, a solid Italianate Victorian near the Capitol. Both family home and official residence for Leland Stanford when he became Governor in 1862, it is now a State Historic Park. Just opened to the public after a lengthy and meticulous restoration, assisted by private donors, the house doubles as an official State reception venue.

Built by Sacramento merchant Shelton Fogus in 1856-57, it was expanded several times by the Stanfords. They raised the house a full story after a flood and added a mansard-roofed upper floor and an office wing, which ballooned the building from an original 4,000 to some 19,000 square feet.

Donated by the widowed Jane Stanford to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sacramento in 1900 and used for decades as a “home for friendless children” then a social work headquarters, the mansion was purchased by the State of California in 1978.

Inside, the restored house gleams with original polished woodwork, rich carpeting, and original or replicated period furnishings, including a massive wooden sideboard carved to look like the front end of a locomotive. The large and ornate public rooms recall the Stanford family era, documented in 1872 in Eadweard Muybridge photos.

One upstairs bedroom is equipped with furnishings, including small, white-painted, iron bedsteads, which recall the orphanage use. The ground floor ballroom is now an event space and art gallery with changing exhibits; currently there is a very impressive show of plein air paintings of California scenes.

Leland Stanford, Jr., the only child of Leland and Jane, was born at this house in May, 1868. His death at age 15 would later inspire his parents to create Stanford University in his memory. Stanfordites may venerate the second floor bedroom where he was born, and the room next door touchingly filled with little Leland’s toys.

However, a more important Blessed Event took place in the Governor’s Office that Stanford appended to the east side of the building and later made available to two of his successors. It was there that Governor Henry Haight had his office when he signed the Organic Act creating the University of California on March 23, 1868.

The office and house were also used by Governor Frederick Low, Haight’s predecessor, who helped gestate the public University by suggesting the combination of the private College of California and State efforts.

Thus, in a symbolic way at least, both the University of California and Stanford University were born in the same place.

Around the house are newly refurbished grounds and a gift shop and visitor center, the latter handsomely equipped with interesting visual and video displays and a clever, take-apart, model showing the structure through several stages of remodeling and expansion.

Tired of too much Stanford? Head on over to the other old Governor’s Mansion, a wooden wedding-cake white Victorian Italinate built by hardware merchant Albert Gallatin in 1877.

The East Bay has strong historic connections to this house, although they’re not that apparent in the displays or the guided tour of two floors. Purchased by the State, it served from 1903 through 1967 as official residence for 13 Governors.

Two governors from Berkeley, Friend W. Richardson and C.C. Young, made this their Sacramento home, as did Oaklanders George Pardee and Earl Warren. Governor Pat Brown also had close UC connections, and several gubernatorial children attended UC campuses. This was also the home of the parents of crusading journalist and Berkeley alumnus Lincoln Steffens whom our guide identified vaguely as a “magazine writer.”

The interior of the house is festooned with elaborate painted plasterwork, including allegorical heads. Original Gallatin stained woodwork and murals were painted over during various remodels.

While the main floor retains its late Victorian/early 20th century character and appointments, the resident families placed an early modern stamp on much of the interior from the 1940s through the 1960s, and elements of their improvised décor, from wallpaper to table lamps to linoleum, remain.

There’s a clawfoot tub with painted red toenails, and another tub wallpapered on the outside (really). Other modernizations include a “Scandinavian” kitchen featuring a huge copper range hood, and early TV’s and air conditioners.

Much of the furniture and feel of the families is still in the house, including a dark wooden plum upholstered parlor set purchased by the Hiram Johnsons, the piano bought by Mrs. Pardee that J.F.K. supposedly played during a visit, and the kitchen table where Earl Warren read the morning paper.

Up on the third floor (currently not accessible to visitors) Teddy Roosevelt plotted campaign strategy in the Hiram Johnson era and Governor “Sunny Jim” Rolph reportedly hosted discrete card games. Examples of various formal silver, crystal, and china services are on display, some of the silver decorated with little raised-relief California bears.

Upstairs in one of the front bedrooms is a curving recliner or chaise lounge where, our guide said, Pat Brown would lie down on nights he couldn’t fall comfortably asleep in bed because of death penalty cases that were troubling him. Downstairs, a dynamite bomb shattered part of the kitchen in 1917, with I.W.W. activists blamed for the attack.

Happier stories include Governor Goodwin Knight carrying his new bride over the threshold no less than twice for photographers, then once for himself, children sliding down the banister of the wonderfully curving stairs, and a young Kathleen Brown (Jerry’s sister) throwing water balloons from the cupola on Halloween.

With the house museums behind you, recross downtown to the Sacramento River edge to one of the finest regional art museums I’ve seen. The Crocker Art Museum—one of the oldest in California, given in 1885 as a public trust to the City of Sacramento—is certainly worth a two or three hour visit.

Portions of the complex date back to 1872 and the main, early, wing retains much of its original handsome character, including richly tiled floors, a fantastic double staircase, and a steamboat shaped gallery overlooking an ornate ballroom.

The old gallery is tied by various additions to an original Crocker family mansion, restored on the exterior but sadly rebuilt inside in a modern “white box” modernist character in 1989. These Crockers—relatives of Charles Crocker, one of the railroad “Big Four”—benefited from a flood of railroad money in the 19th century and amassed on their European travels what was, at one time, the largest private art collection in the United States.

As early as the 1870s they also started collecting significant California artists, so the Museum has good Hills, Bierdstadts, Keiths and Nahls, among others.

The upper galleries are divided between an inner display of largely scenic and allegorical California painting—overlooked by a gigantic, “Yosemite” by Thomas Hill—and an outer gallery of eclectic European treasures.

Elsewhere there’s a not-too-extensive sampling of Asian art, a nice selection of modern sculpture and painting, and changing exhibit space.

One gallery currently displays (through Jan. 29, 2006) a rather remarkable survey of the work of Marsden Hartley, who seems to have eclectically mastered and practiced most of the avant garde painting and drawing styles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

My one disappointment with these visits that the Stanford Mansion exhibits and descriptions treat Leland Stanford with almost saintly reverence, with no mention I could find of the more controversial aspects of his business and political life. The Crockers are similarly, but not as ostentatiously, venerated in the Crocker Gallery.

Both these families grew massively rich, in a frequent California way, not just from hard work and commercial acumen but from political connections, large sole-source government contracts, and preferentially favorable attention from well-cultivated legislative and legal bodies.

Although they commendably left much of their property to charitable purposes, I could not help wondering if a century hence Americans will be viewing the former mansions and benefactions of the executives and major stockholders of Halliburton, Chevron, and the like, and learning about their business past in a similarly sanitized manner.

IF YOU GO

The old Governor’s Mansion is at 1526 H St. several blocks northeast of the capitol. Open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Access to the house is only by guided tour on the hour, $4 per adult.

The Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park stands at 800 N St., corner of 8th Street, two blocks west of the Capitol building.

Definitely double-check if the house is open for tours when you plan to visit, since it closes irregularly for special events. (916) 324-0575. www.lelandstanfordmansion.org

The Crocker Museum is down near the river at 216 0 St. at 3rd Street, south of “Old Sacramento” but separated from it and the water by the sunken I-5 freeway. Hours are Tue.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Thursdays until 9 p.m. Sundays are free before 1 p.m. Admission is $6 adults, $4 seniors, $3 students. (916) 264-5423 crockerartmuseum.org

The Crocker and Stanford interiors are wheelchair accessible; the old Governor’s Mansion tour climbs two steep flights of stairs.?

“Back to the Land” A benefit for City Slicker Farms, backyard organic gardens in West Oakland, with music by Sweet Briar, Joel Robinow and Texas Ben, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave. Donation $5-$15. 763-4241.

Helping Hands Benefit for Musicians in Need at 8 p.m. at Freight and Salvage. Cost is $17.50-$8.50. 548-1761. www.freightandsalvage.org

MONDAY, NOV. 28

FILM

Special Screening: Focus Features Presentation at 7 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

Unconditional Theatre “Voices of Activism: Crawford” Members of Unconditional Theatre traveled to Crawford, Texas, to interview people on both sides of the Camp Casey anti-war protest. At 7:30 p.m. at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave. Suggested donation $2-$20. www.juliamorgan.org

FILM

Busy Signals: Telephonic Art in Motion “Touchtone” at 7:30 p.m. at the Pacific Film Archive. Cost is $4-$8. 642-0808. www.bampfa.berkeley.edu

READINGS AND LECTURES

Dave Lippman “Star of Goliath” Slides, song and sound from a visit to Palestine and Israel at 8 p.m. at La Peña Cultural Center. Cost is $7-$10. 849-2568. www.lapena.org

Thanksgiving dinner has been eaten and re-eaten. The turkey’s been picked down to the bones. Endorphins lulled you to sleep with that slightly “full” feeling. Your house seems rather full too, with family and friends occupying every seat. What’s next on the agenda?

Getting everyone outdoors for the day may be the best solution. Forget about the Mall Sales and invest your time in nature and her resources. As close by as out your back door or within an easy drive, here are 10 destinations guaranteed to make you forget about making turkey soup.

CLOSE TO HOME:

1. Tilden Regional Park

From hiking to flowers, there’s something for everyone in Tilden Park. The hours of the day will quickly fade before you have time to access all the possibilities. Children, and adults, will love the Little Farm and Nature Area—farm animals on display and an easy walk on the endless bridge leading to a small pond where ducks quack and an elegant heron makes his home. Take the same group onward to the antique merry-go-round of hand carved animals and Tilden’s own steam train. Anglers and walkers won’t be disappointed with a stroll around Lake Anza whose beauty reigns regardless of the weather. With the last bit of light, tour California’s floral districts at the Botanic Garden, boasting an amazing collection of California natives. www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden.htm

2. Berkeley Marina

Celebrate childhood at Adventure Playground, instruct yourself regarding bay ecology and sustainable architecture at the Straw Bale Visitor Center or relax in the shelter of Shorebird Park, watching birds and windsurfers expend energy. Walk the paved paths circling the marina and dream of far-off tropical jaunts abroad your yacht. After exhausting the southern end of the marina head north to Cesar Chavez Park watching kites soar in the fierce winds and happy dogs romp with glee. www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina.

3. Historic Oakand

Oakland’s historic neighborhoods are an ideal walking destination, from Old Oakland and City Center to Chinatown, Lake Merritt and the waterfront. Rich in ethnic heritage and the culture it supports, architecture, specialty shops and enticing eateries will glide you along. At the colorful waterfront you can trace Jack London’s early career in fishing and prospecting amid eye-catching scenery. Honor America’s longest term President with a tour of the USS Potomac, Roosevelt’s “Floating White House” where expert docents bring this imposing figure to life. www.oaklandnet.com, www.usspotomac.org.

NORTHWARD:

4. Historic Sonoma

Divide your day between 19th century California and present day merchants and you won’t be disappointed. Sonoma’s park-like plaza is central to almost all its vintage attractions, and just the spot to sample the edible ones. Sonoma State Historic Park consists of California’s northernmost mission, furnished army barracks, a workingman’s hotel and the near-by home of General Vallejo. An easy walk sets the scene for the famous “Bear Flag Revolt”. Even the non-shoppers in your group won’t rebel at a wander around Sonoma’s boutiques and food shops. Local cheeses, olives, wine and bread never tasted so good. www.parks.ca.gov, www.sonomavalley.com.

5. Jack London State Historic Park

“A quiet place in the country to write and loaf” is what Jack London desired. That’s what he had in Glen Ellen, an estate as much his legacy as his books. His spirit may follow your footsteps along quiet, oak-wooded trails from the House of Happy Walls, built to commemorate his work, to the tragic ruins of Wolf House, never inhabited. You’ll marvel at his innovative thinking as you tour Beauty Ranch, aptly named. Make sure to save time for the short hike up to the lake and bathhouse. End your day in quiet appreciation of a lovely spot and a complex icon. www.parks.sonoma.net/JLPark.html.

EASTWARD:

6. Sunol Regional Wilderness

Far removed in space and time from bustling Alameda County, Sunol’s wild, open spaces will transport you far beyond. This is a land of soaring raptors, sandstone and basalt outcrops and our own Little Yosemite, where huge boulders line the gorge and create stepping-stones for a rushing creek. Plan your day around the Old Green Barn Visitor Center and the Indian Joe Creek Self-Guided Nature Trail. Follow the numbered markers to explore creek-side communities and Flag Hill. Then challenge yourself to breathtaking vistas on Canyon View Trail heading to Little Yosemite, a site you’ll hear long before it appears to view.

End the day at Alameda Grove Picnic Area, reflecting on this hidden treasure. www.ebparks.org/parks/sunol.htm.

WESTWARD:

7. Muir Woods National Monument

Walking below coast redwoods 250 feet in height, the last old growth forest left in the Bay Area, tends to put a different slant on life. In the cool dense shade, light filtering down, it’s difficult not to be awed by their majesty. Follow the boardwalk or venture farther afield on well-marked trails, slip into the café or browse the well-stocked gift shop. Hope for needle-clinging mist or a gentle rain to swell the waters of the creek. There are no bad days in the midst of this cathedral of nature. www.nps.gov/muwo/home.htm.

8. Point Reyes National Seashore

To fully explore Point Reyes requires several adventures. This time head west to Chimney Rock and the Lighthouse, before the annual whale and elephant seal migration and the mandatory shuttle. The rocky peninsula, 300 steps and expansive ocean views will seem your own. Follow meandering footpaths that edge the headland and explore the lifeboat station cove, keeping an eye out for the mammals of the sea. Save time to stroll the long, level sands of Drake’s Beach, discover the displays in the Visitor Center and savor hot soup or an oyster sandwich at Drake’s Beach Café.

9. Samuel P. Taylor State Park

Certain destinations are old friends, welcoming you back in every season. Camp Taylor qualifies as one of my favorite places. I never tire of a gentle stroll beneath the redwood canopy, the gurgle of Papermill Creek at my side. Winter brings its own excitement, the spawning of silver salmon and steelhead trout. By foot or bike, ten miles of trails meander the canyon and open hillsides; pamphlets are available for two self-guided walks. Bundle up for some hot chili and dogs at the Azalea Picnic Area, next to a wood fire in the old stone fire pits. Whatever you eat will taste delicious. www.parks.ca.gov.

FARTHEST SOUTH:

10. Pacific Grove

Requiring an early rising, Pacific Grove is still worth a visit, if only for one day. Walk the town past Victorian beauties and clapboard cottages to Lovers Point Park along Ocean View Blvd. Look for basking sea lions on the rocks and otters foraging in the kelp. Stroll the sands at Asilomar Beach. Back in town, check out the latest exhibit at the Museum of Natural History, then relax at Juice N’ Java or enjoy the great food at Peppers. Though there’s too much to do in just one day, you’ll leave wanting to return. www.pacifcigrove.org.

Meditation, Peace Vigil and Dialogue, gather at noon on the grass close to the West Entrance to UC Berkeley, on Oxford St. near University Ave. People of all traditions are welcome to join us. Sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. 655-6169. www.bpf.org

SATURDAY, NOV. 26

Mini-Farmers in Tilden A farm exploration program, from 10 to 11 a.m. for ages 4-6 years, accompanied by an adult. We will explore the Little Farm, care for animals, do crafts and farm chores. Wear boots and dress to get dirty! Fee is $6-$8. Registration required. 636-1684.

“Playing With Fire” Berkeley Potters Guild Holiday Sale from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 731 Jones St. at Fourth St. www.berkeleypotters.com

Berkeley Artisans Holiday Open Studios Sat. and Sun. from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For a map of locations see www.berkeleyartisans.com

Spirit Walking Aqua Chi (TM) A gentle water exercise class at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley High Warm Pool. Cost is $3.50 per session. 526-0312.

Car Wash Benefit for Options Recovery Services of Berkeley, held every Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lutheran Church, 1744 University Ave. 666-9552.

SUNDAY, NOV. 27

Turkey “Trot” Come to the Little Farm in Tilden Park at 1 p.m. to see the resident turkeys, then enjoy a brisk walk to explore seasonal changes. 525-2233.

“Back to the Land” A benefit for City Slicker Farms, backyard organic gardens in West Oakland, with music by Sweet Briar, Joel Robinow and Texas Ben, from 1 to 5 p.m. at Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph Ave. Donation $5-$15. 763-4241.

“Mayan Women Speak Out” Members of the Jolom Mayaetik Mayan weavers cooperative from Chiapas, Mexico will show slides and discuss the work of the cooperative and the challenges that face indigenous women in Mexico, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut St. 644-6893.

Berkeley City Club free tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are sponsored by the Berkeley City Club and the Landmark Heritage Foundation. Donations welcome. The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Ave. For group reservations or more information, call 848-7800 or 883-9710.

Bay Area Vintage Base Ball League Meet members of the League, and learn the rules and customs of the games as it was played in Oakland in 1886, at noon at Oakland Museum of California, Tenth and Oak Sts. 238-2200. www.museumca.org

Critical Viewing An ongoing group to examine the art/craft(iness) of short films and television productions and its effects on our daily lives, at 1 p.m. at the BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. Free. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net

Berkeley CopWatch organizational meeting at 8 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. Join us to work on current issues around police misconduct. Volunteers needed. For information call 548-0425.

TUESDAY, NOV. 29

Return of the Over-the-Hills Gang Hikers 55 years and older who are interested in nature study, history, fitness, and fun are invited to join us on a series of monthly excursions exploring our Regional Parks. Meets at 10 a.m. at Tilden Nature Area. For information and to register call 525-2233.

Birdwalk on the MLK Shoreline from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to see the shorebirds here for the winter. Beginnners welcome, binoculars available for loan. 525-2233.

Women’s Snowshoe Workshop, covering all the essentials fro getting started in the sport at 7 p.m. at REI, 1338 San Pablo Ave. 527-4140.

20th Anniversary of Star Alliance at 5:30 p.m. at Taste of the Himalayas, 1700 Shattuck Ave. With food, music, traditional Nepalese youth dancing, and a Sing-A-Long. Tickets are $20 at the door. 848-1818.

Flu Shots for Berkeley Residents age 60 or over or “high-risk” from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Public Health Clinic, 830 University Ave. For information call 981-5300.

Berkeley School Volunteers Training workshop for volunteers interested in helping the public schools, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at 1835 Allston Way. 644-8833.

Berkeley Camera Club meets at 7:30 p.m., at the Northbrae Community Church, 941 The Alameda. 548-3991. www.berkeleycameraclub.org

St. John’s Prime Timers meets at 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave. Judy Kuften, gerontologist, will speak on issues in aging. We always welcome new members over 50. 845-6830.

“Ask the Social Worker” free consultations for older adults and their families from 10 a.m. to noon at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. To schedule an appointment call 558-7800, ext. 716.

Walk Berkeley for Seniors meets every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Sea Breeze Market, just west of the I-80 overpass. Everyone is welcome, wear comfortable shoes and a warm hat. Heavy rain cancels. 548-9840.

Fresh Produce Stand at San Pablo Park from 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the Frances Albrier Community Center. Sponsored by the Ecology Center’s Farm Fresh Choice. 848-1704. www.ecologycenter.org

Sing your Way Home A free sing-a-long at 4:30 p.m. every Wed. at the Albany Library, 1247 Marin Ave. 526-3720.

Prose Writer’s Workshop An ongoing group made up of friendly writers who are serious about our craft. All levels welcome. At 7 p.m. at BRJCC, 1414 Walnut St. 848-0237. georgeporter@earthlink.net

Berkeley Peace Walk and Vigil at 6:30 p.m. followed by Peace Walk at 7 p.m. www.

geocities.com/vigil4peace/vigil

THURSDAY, DEC. 1

An Evening of Solidarity with the Zapatistas with music by the La Peña Community Chorus, slides from EZLN’s Other Campaign and holiday gifts, at 7:30 p.m. at La Peña. Donation $7-$15. Benefits Zapatista Autonomous Health Care. 654-9587.

We Give Thanks Month Dine at a participating restaurant, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Berkeley Food and Housing. Restaurants include Bendean, Poulet, Rose Garden Inn, La Note, Skates on the Bay and Oliveto’s. www.bfhp.org

Warm Coat Drive Donate a coat for distribution in the community, at Bay St., Emeryville. Sponsored by the Girl Scouts. www.onewarmcoat.org

Opinion

Editorials

When I was a small child, about 5 or so, I had a recurring dream in which I was driving a car, but was still a child and didn’t know how to drive it. It carried me all sorts of places I’d never intended to go, and I couldn’t make it stop. My dream car never crashed, because I learned how to wake myself up before things got too dire, but it was frightening nonetheless. The United States at the moment is in the grip of a similar dream. All sorts of things are careening out of the control of the electorate, of those of us who are theoretically in the driver’s seat, but who cannot control where the country is going.

Another view of who’s in the driver’s seat is that we elect a president every four years, and after that it’s up to him to guide the country—the public transit theory of democracy. The problem is that to those of us in the back of the bus it looks like the driver is asleep at the wheel. Bush’s approval ratings have slipped dramatically below 50 percent in all the polls, no matter who takes them. The masses (now there’s an old-style word) of American voters have figured out that the current administration is wrong on every crucial issue: Iraq, global climate change, health care, the deficit—all the polls show that Americans have lost faith in the administration’s ability to deal with the real problems that confront us as a nation. And yet there are three more years of the Bush II regime ahead, plenty of time for the country to crash and burn.

The popular wisdom is that national and state legislatures have been so badly gerrymandered by Republicans and Democrats eager to protect their own seats that very few districts change hands at election time. This belief was reflected in the fairly substantial vote for California Proposition 77, which would have taken redistricting away from the Assembly, though it was ultimately rejected. Is there a chance that the Democrats could take Congress back in the 2006 election?

We encountered Max Anderson (on the Berkeley City Council) catching Hal Stein’s amazing saxophone at Anna’s Jazz Island on Saturday night. He told me that the Dec. 10 tribute to Maudelle Shirek which he’s organizing will feature a Democratic challenger to Iowa Representative Steve King, who achieved local infamy by channeling Joe McCarthy while blocking naming the Berkeley Post Office after Shirek. I don’t know if the candidate has any chance at all, but presumably there are those in King’s district who are embarrassed by him, and by his unwavering support for the out-of-control national administration. But a better strategy for getting rid of King in a solid Republican district might be to find a moderate candidate to enter Iowa’s Jan. 16 Republican party caucus. On the other hand, the latest Harris poll shows that only 28 percent of Republicans think that Bush is misleading the country, as compared to 91 percent of Democrats, so that might not work.

For 2008, there’s also the presidential candidate dilemma. At the moment, no opposing candidate looks very plausible. In the old days, all a candidate needed to do to win was to promise to clean up the mess in Washington, but no one yet has been willing to do that. It’s a measure of our desperation that Al Gore is looking better and better, but no announced Democratic candidate has stood up on his hind legs and called the mess in Washington the mess in Washington. Hillary Clinton’s fans are busy promoting her as the right Democrat-lite, but like the rest of them she’s unwilling to call for drastic changes in the way the country’s being run.

Another sobering thought is that the sensible majority might get the country back in 2006 or 2008, but it would be so broke by that time that it couldn‘t be fixed. This administration has been very diligent about transferring the taxes paid by middle class Americans into the pockets of the super-rich. The worst case would be that a dream ticket (think Clinton-Obama) would be elected only to preside over the last rites of a bankrupt nation.

The Bill Clinton administration managed to reverse the deficit inherited from previous Republican tomfoolery, but can it be done a second time? The country might have reached the economic nadir first achieved by American cities in the late seventies and early eighties. When mayor’s offices in cities like Detroit were finally turned over to women and African-Americans, it was a sign that the moneyed elite had finished plundering them, and they never really came back after that. By 2008, the financial assets of ordinary Americans might have been converted to bank accounts in the Bahamas or 60,000 square foot mansions in Dallas. If the country’s out of gas, it won’t matter who’s driving.

Berkeley Police, members of Berkeley Boosters and other community volunteers gathered at 6 a.m. Tuesday to prepare Thanksgiving baskets.

By 8 a.m. current and retired Berkeley Police officers were on their way to deliver them, each complete with a turkey, to 280 disadvantaged households.

Money for the seasonal bounty is raised by Berkeley’s finest during their annual 216-mile bike ride from Berkeley to Lake Tahoe.

This year, officers raised $10,880, enough to prepare 500 baskets. A second round of deliveries at Christmas time will end this year’s deliveries.

Y robbery

A young woman called police last Thursday evening to report that she had been robbed by four strongarm acquaintances at the Berkeley YMCA at 2001 Allston Way.

All are juveniles, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies.

GOA

That’s police code for “gone on arrival,” which is what happened to both parties in an event a caller described as a possible carjacking in the 2300 block of Fourth Street at 6:44 p.m. last Thursday.

Armed robbers

Two men who fled in a dark four-door car approached a man in the 1100 block of Cornell Avenue just after 8 p.m. last Thursday, produced a pistol and then robbed him of his cell phone and wallet before speeding off.

Hoodies

Two teenagers, at least one of them armed and both clad in dark hooded sweatshirts (AKA “hoodies”), robbed a 25-year-old woman of a shoulder bag and contents as she walked along the 2700 block of McGee Avenue at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Drive-by purse heist

A pedestrian walking near the corner of Milvia and Dwight Way at 10 p.m. Friday was approached by a young man who grabbed at her purse. Her resistance turned the crime into robbery, though it didn’t save the purse from the bandit, who hopped into a dark compact car, complete with a wheelman who sped him away from the scene.

Flees by thumb

A domestic dispute took a nasty turned Saturday morning when a woman smashed her 44-year-old male companion in the head with a bottle.

She managed to flee by thumbing a ride from the scene—the 1200 block of Ashby Avenue—and remains at large, said Officer Okies.

Sneaker heist

A tall, thin bandit accompanied by two cohorts punched a pedestrian in the 1500 block of Hillegass Avenue shortly before noon, then robbed him of three pairs of sneakers.